BROTHERLY LOVE AND KIDNAPPING
by steamboat
Summary: On a trip to Rio Sydney, Nigel and Preston run into big trouble with a gang of international criminals! Nigel is taken prisoner and has to be rescued. In later chapters, Sydney begins to realise that she actually loves Nigel!
1. Chapter 1

**BROTHERLY LOVE AND KIDNAPPING**

**CHAPTER 1**

**This is a story about how Sydney, in her desperate need to see Nigel happy, inadvertently puts him, Preston and herself in great danger when events from Nigel and Preston's past, quite shockingly, catch up with them. When Nigel then almost dies at the hands of a sadistic gang of kidnappers, Sydney begins to realise that her feelings for him are much deeper than she'd previously thought. However, as he'd been so brutally attacked and abused in all manner of ways, there's doubt as to whether or not he'll be mentally capable of living a normal life again! Read on and find out how this all occurs!**

**16 Dec 2003**

Sydney Fox walked into the ancient studies department of Trinity College early one Monday morning feeling a little hung-over. She'd been out the previous evening with a group of friends and although it was fun, it was the middle of December, it was cold and wet and she desperately longed for some sunshine.

Although much in demand as a relic hunter all over the world, she still had many friends at home and led a very active social life. This was, however, quite in contrast to her young teaching assistant, Nigel Bailey, whose social life was practically, non-existent.

Sydney was concerned about Nigel's lack of friends, as he never appeared to have any fun; all he seemed to do was work, study, accompany her on relic hunts and have the odd date…..that mostly ended in heartache! She'd often asked him to come out with her and he did occasionally, when she wasn't with a large crowd, or when she threatened to tear up his book!

Although it was very clear Nigel liked women, he was always so shy and awkward around them, particularly if they were beautiful, or came on to him too strongly. Having realised that, Sydney took it upon herself to help and advise him on the fairer sex, although she'd noticed just recently he'd been avoiding the subject of women altogether.

Believing he'd become uncomfortable discussing his girlfriends with her, she considered that what he really needed was a more experienced male friend to talk to, or better still; if she could ever get them on speaking terms, the help of his older brother Preston!

Nigel's home life was what she considered, boring and had been like that since he'd been working with her; some three and a half years. In all that time he'd never even taken a vacation and, try as she might; she'd never been able to persuade him to spend Christmas, or any other holiday, with his brother.

She was, of course, aware that Preston, who was seven years older than Nigel, constantly belittled and overshadowed him. However, she really believed that, deep down, they loved each other and that Nigel would genuinely benefit from having his big brother back in his life.

This wasn't just wishful thinking on Sydney's part either, as they'd both said things that made it quite apparent how they truly felt and she'd witnessed Nigel's kindness towards his brother several times!

On one occasion, upon hearing that Preston might lose his much-loved job at the British Museum, Nigel gave his brother a vial which had once contained water from the Fountain of Youth. This kind gesture enabled Preston to impress his boss with the relic and in so doing, he kept his job; although in truth, he'd no need to work at all. Unfortunately, although Nigel's act of kindness should have brought the brothers together, it didn't, as Preston immediately behaved quite selfishly, causing another rift!

Sydney sat in her office mulling over the situation between the two brothers and began to recall a conversation she'd had with Preston during a recent relic hunt, the third one he'd joined them on. During that discussion he'd expressed his concerns that Nigel was constantly in danger working with her and that his little brother had wrongly assumed that he didn't love him. Of course, she'd responded by telling Preston that she worried about Nigel too; but that she did all she could to protect him, which was more than he was doing!

Realising she'd got his attention, she'd gone on to say that it was time he actually showed Nigel he cared, rather than causing him such anguish and heartbreak!

Having knocked back a larger than normal brandy, Preston had uncharacteristically responded by saying how foolish he'd been to continually belittle and undermine Nigel when, clearly, it was having a detrimental effect on him. Of course, Preston being Preston, he didn't take all of the blame but said he considered Nigel was over sensitive and should simply know that he loves him!

Remembering her annoyance at this she then recalled she'd agreed Nigel was sensitive and then told him, quite angrily, that if he was aware of this, it made his behaviour all the more irresponsible and that she'd personally witnessed his tactlessness in the past and was sickened by it!

It had been clear by Preston's reaction that he was surprised by her attitude, as he appeared to think she'd side with him, be sympathetic to his needs and give Nigel a lecture about not holding grudges. However, after giving her comments some further consideration; he'd confessed that he'd treated Nigel badly for so long, it was now almost second nature; although he swore that he meant no harm.

To put an end to this frank conversation she remembered telling him that if he really wanted to get along with Nigel, he'd have to change his attitude; or lose his little brother forever. Annoyingly, however, his last words to her on that subject were; so will he!

That comment was so typical of him and showed clearly he needed as much help to get over the past as Nigel did. It was for that reason, and because she felt that Nigel was hurting too much at the moment, that she decided to take the bull by the horns and try to bring them together herself. The problem was; how was she going to achieve that when Nigel had adamantly and a little emotionally, stated that he never wanted to see Preston again!

Sitting in her office, her head still thumping, she looked out through the glass partition and saw Nigel hard at work marking papers and doing all manner of other things that made her life so much easier.

She mulled over the problem again and again when suddenly she had an idea; although she realised to achieve her goal she'd have to be a little bit sneaky and tell a few lies!

Firstly she made a few telephone calls, mainly to her colleagues at Trinity, just so Nigel would see that she was talking to someone. She then rushed back to the outer office and excitedly said "Nige! Remember that stack of gold that Paul Avery told us about? You know… the one that pirates supposedly hid in Brazil?"

"Yes, of course; you told Paul it was just a myth and he got really annoyed with you…. I think he just wanted you all to himself down in Rio! He certainly didn't want me along anyway!" Nigel said, remembering how insulted he'd felt at the time and wondering why she'd brought that up again.

"Well, what if I told you I was just speaking to Paul and he told me he's located a map which shows the exact whereabouts of the gold!?" Sydney said convincingly enough to fool Nigel.

"That's fantastic!….has he e-mailed you a copy of the map?" he asked, getting up from his desk "because if it's genuine, it'll definitely be worth a trip to Rio…..although Christmas is just around the corner; you can't be thinking of going right now, surly! I thought you were planning to go to Hawaii."

"I was but dad's planning a surprise for Jenny and I'd feel in the way; so there's no problem" she said, quite truthfully, giving him one of those looks that said; 'this could be big!'

She then went on to explain that Paul was unable to scan the map and e-mail it to her but that he wanted both of them to join him in Rio, as he believed that Nigel's expertise in these matters would be crucial. Nigel felt a twinge of pride upon hearing that but, of course, that was all part of the plan!

Eventually, regardless of how fake this hunt really was, she managed to convince Nigel that it would be amazing and that even though she hadn't actually seen the map, Paul had had it authenticated and was in Rio right now waiting for them.

As soon as she was happy that Nigel believed what she said, and definitely wanted to go, she returned to her office and called Preston, in London.

Keeping up the pretence she explained about the 'hunt', ensuring he was unaware of her ulterior motives for inviting him and making him feel rather special. Preston was delighted and secretly relieved to accept her offer, as without that he'd have been forced, once again, to spend Christmas alone, as Nigel, for the third year running, had completely ignored his invitation to join him. Feeling rather depressed by that, he told Sydney that he believed his brother would never forget the past and that even though it was going to be another difficult meeting with Nigel, he was still willing to sacrifice his Christmas to help her out!

Sensing his unhappiness, she tried to reassure Preston that if he went about things the right way, Nigel would respond favourably, although she realised, as she'd thought about this situation at lot, there was probably more to their relationship problems than either brother was saying.

Trying to lighten Preston's mood she went on to explain that she knew nothing more about the gold than she'd told him, but believed he had knowledge vital to the hunt.

Feeling quite sure he'd be coming she then explained she'd not arranged flights or accommodation for her and Nigel yet, but would call him when she had.

As much as Sydney hated lying she realised that this time she had to; at least until they'd all arrived in Rio. At that time she figured, as long as she could prevent Nigel from immediately flying back home, she'd be able to deal with his anger then.

**19****th**** Dec day 1 in Rio**

As it turned out Preston managed to get a flight to Rio immediately and arrived the day before the relic hunters. Of course, he'd kept Sydney informed and, in fact, had arranged hotel accommodation for all of them for one night and car hire for a week, believing that's all that they'd need. Sydney, of course, hoping her plan would run smoothly, immediately called the hotel to book rooms for a further two weeks; hoping the brothers would bond in that time. Unfortunately, however, there was one little problem….apart from the first night, the hotel only had two rooms available!

Not letting that spoil her plans, she promptly booked them and arranged for flowers, chocolates and 6 beers to be placed in Nigel's room, along with a note saying "I'm sorry….Syd xx"!

The heat hit their faces as they got off the plane at Santos Dumont Airport and Sydney breathed in the warmth she'd so desperately longed for. Staring at Nigel, whose excitement at looking for pirate's gold was clear, she wished for a moment she'd not asked Preston along, realising he'd soon be unhappy again.

Glancing toward the exit, having passed through the arrivals gate, Nigel could hardly believe his eyes as, to his horror, he saw Preston running towards them with his arms outstretched!

"What the!" Nigel shouted, suddenly realising now why his boss had been so quiet on the plane!

Before he could say another word Preston threw his arms around Sydney "welcome to Rio Sydney….. um…you too Podge."

Nigel looked like he was about to explode as he stood there watching them hug! He was absolutely furious and shook head in disbelief as he heard Sydney say to his brother "nice to see you, glad you could make it."

Noticing the displeasure on Nigel's face and how devastated he was, she felt rather guilty inside and slightly worried that her plan might not work out if Nigel didn't calm down!

"Nige, I didn't mean to upset you…look I'll explain everything when we get to the hotel; you can have a nice shower, something to eat, then you'll feel much better" she said, hoping he wouldn't immediately insist on having his return ticket!

"I can't think why you need him along! He knows nothing about pirates' gold!" Nigel said, brushing his fingers through his hair and noticing how insulted his brother looked.

"As I said….I'll explain later" Sydney said, giving Nigel an apologetic look.

"Oh alright, alright, he's here now!" Nigel said not wishing to give his brother the satisfaction of seeing him have an argument with Sydney, which he knew he'd probably lose.

Preston took hold of Sydney's bag and offered to take his brother's too but Nigel, giving him an evil look, just yanked it back and followed them to the car.

A couple of hours later, after they'd freshened up and Nigel felt a little less irritated, having received Sydney's gifts, they were all sat around the dinner table in their luxurious hotel; the Copacabana Palace. Sydney was secretly paying for this, although Nigel, still believing it was a 'real' hunt, thought that Paul Avery was; he certainly couldn't afford it himself, even if his brother could.

Preston couldn't wait to hear about the hunt, although all Nigel wanted to know was why his brother was there, especially when Sydney knew how badly his brother behaved when they'd last seen each other.

Realising it was now or never, Sydney decided to come clean and explained everything, causing Nigel and Preston to sit there staring at each other with their arms folded, giving each other a look that said 'this is all your fault!'

**PLEASE REVIEW – All we fanfiction writers live for a few kind words of encouragement, no matter how long the story has been on this site….. honestly! Please take a moment to review this and perhaps tick one of the other boxes.**

**In the next chapter read what happens to Nigel in the hotel bar and why he needs to be rescued! Plus Preston and Nigel discuss their past.**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

**Still 19****th**** December**

After a couple of minutes of the staring at his brother, Nigel got up and walked towards the bar. The room was quite large and was bustling with tourists, businessmen and locals; although there were still a few empty seats and tables. He'd almost reached the bar when, feeling a little distracted and needing a drink, he tripped over a coat that was lying on the floor! He was completely unable to steady himself and went sprawling, face down, over the lap of a very large man who, that very second, was picking up his beer. The man was furious, as his drink spilled all over his extremely expensive suit and all over Nigel's back!

Flying into a rage, the man grabbed Nigel's arm, pulled it up behind him, whacked his backside violently and shoved him to the floor! Not feeling he'd hurt and humiliated the young man enough, when Nigel tried to get up the brute kicked him in the ribs and slapped his face!

"Ouch! Ah! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It was an accident" Nigel squealed, putting his hands over his head for protection, anticipating another blow.

Thinking for a minute his ordeal was over; Nigel removed his hands from his head and tried to get up. He was almost on his feet when the man grabbed the lapels of his jacket, shook him viciously and then leaned forward so that he was staring directly into Nigel's terrified face "you stupid little idiot; what the hell do you think you're doing!?" he yelled.

"I tripped Sir, it was an accident! I'm sorry!" Nigel squealed again, feeling very disorientated and wondering where Sydney was!

"I'll give you sorry!" the man yelled as he spun Nigel around, caught hold of his belt and the back of his jacket and threw him across the room!

Landing on an empty couch, which thankfully broke his fall, Nigel turned his head a little to see if the brute had gone. However, to his horror, he saw the vile man coming towards him again; looking angrier than ever! Nigel's heart came into his mouth as the brute yanked him off the couch and shook him viciously again! Punching Nigel in the stomach and bringing tears to his eyes, the man yelled "I'll kill you, you scrawny little runt, you ruined my suit!"

Scared half to death, Nigel noticed people stood around looking very concerned, but they were obviously too frightened of the thug to help him! Trying, in vain, once more to catch sight of Sydney, he began to think he'd never escape the lunatic if she didn't help…at least not alive!

The fact was, as soon as Nigel left the table to go to the bar, Sydney left too, as she wanted to book some spa treatments, which left Preston alone feeling rather awkward.

Preston had been sitting there the whole time Nigel was being attacked and hadn't noticed a thing! He was so deep in thought, mulling over what Sydney had said about him and Nigel, he was totally oblivious to his surroundings.

Believing now that he'd lost his little brother forever, as neither of them knew how to make the first move, or change their pattern of behaviour; he was suddenly brought back to reality with the sound of a loud scream!

Instinctively knowing it was Nigel and then seeing him being attacked, his true feelings for his younger brother surfaced and without a thought for his own safety, he ran over to the thug and hit him over the head with a heavy silver tray!

"You leave him alone you big bully! Pick on someone your own size!" Preston shouted forcefully, as several onlookers began to clap.

The brute looked quite stunned and believing Preston was tougher than he was, and noticing a crowd gathering now that he appeared to be injured, he ran out the door! Shocked by his own bravery, Preston helped Nigel up and held him tightly so that he wouldn't fall down again.

At that moment the hotel manager, Mr Lopez, and two security guards, walked into the room having been advised by the barman what was happening. They'd deliberately taken their time to get there as the thug, who was well known to them, had friends who'd retaliate in terrible ways if they called the police, or interfered personally!

Noticing Nigel was being attended to; they stood back and watched as Preston pushed the hair off Nigel's face.

"Are you OK Podge" he asked, looking closely into his brother's eyes to see if he was responsive.

"Y….yes, I'll be OK in…. in a minute, let me catch my breath" Nigel said, bending forward and holding his arm on his stomach "Um Pres, wh…where's Sydney?"

"She's around somewhere, look… are you sure you're OK?" Preston asked, sitting him down on one of the sofas and noticing him wince "you look terrible!"

"I'll be alright; I suffered worse at boarding school!" Nigel said, pretending he wasn't in pain at all and using a bit of sarcasm to cover the fact that he was. Trying to appear in control in front of Preston, he failed miserably as he was shaking so much that Mr Lopez and security guards thought he might pass out.

"Shall we call an ambulance Sir?" one of the guards asked, noticing Preston looking quite panic stricken.

"No! Don't! Please" Nigel yelled "I'll be fine, just help me to my feet!" Nigel stretched up his arm and looked directly at his brother, who pulled him up off the sofa and took him back to their table, followed by the Mr Lopez and his security team.

"Have you called the police?" Preston asked, anxiously staring at the manager and his two men.

"I'm afraid they'd be of little use against the likes of that man Sir…he's well…part of a gang…it's not wise to cause him or his 'friends' any trouble. Of course, it's up to you… but if the young man's alright and you'd rather not spend the night at the station, it might be better to just leave it" Mr Lopez said, with a worried expression on his face "I'm really sorry, but the Copacabana Palace and all of the businesses in this area have no choice but to allow the gangs to do as they please!"

Preston looked very surprised but Nigel had been in situations like this before and understood why he and many other people in the neighbourhood were intimidated by men like that. "We don't need the police, he's gone now and I'll be OK" Nigel said, leaning on the table.

"Thank you Sir" the manager said, feeling quite relieved "look the drinks are on the house for the rest of your stay."

"Oh, thanks…. but um….actually.… the drinks are on me!" Nigel said, wriggling his wet shoulders and laughing nervously.

Preston smiled, remembering Nigel had always used humour to try and cover up his embarrassment, especially when he was a teenager.

A minute later Sydney came back into the bar. She was all smiles until she saw Nigel looking so dishevelled, and obviously, hurt. Her first thought was to lash out at Preston, believing he'd hit his brother; although Nigel quickly explained that he hadn't. Having told her what the brute did and why the hotel manager hadn't called the police, she was angry "Darn it! I thought this hotel was going to be such a relaxing place…is the thug still here?"

"No, he'd gone now; Preston hit him with a tray" Nigel said; wincing as he moved his arm to demonstrate what his brother had done.

"Well I'd have kicked his butt from here to China if he was!" she said, noticing Nigel rubbing his stomach "Nige….are you sure you're OK?"

"Syd, I'm fine" he said, noticing she was giving him a disbelieving look. "OK….OK…my stomach and ribs are a little tender and I'm a bit sore on my um….you know…. but I'm alright…. really!" He turned his head away from everyone hoping no one would notice him blushing but, of course, they all did!

Sydney resisted the urge to smile "come on Nige, let's get you up to bed" she said, taking him by the arm and heading towards the lift. She and Preston walked Nigel to his room where he insisted they leave him to have a long soak in the Jacuzzi bath. Sydney was a bit hesitant to do that without checking him thoroughly for wounds. However, after a bit of forceful persuasion from Nigel, she reluctantly gave in.

Later that evening she returned to Nigel's room to make sure the pain wasn't too severe and to have a chat about Preston. Having handed him a couple of aspirin she pulled up his pyjama top to check he wasn't hiding anything; which he very often did! Not surprisingly she found a large bruise on his back with several smaller ones dotted around it. There were also some minor scratches on his ribs and a nasty red mark on his stomach; which was obviously where he'd been punched. Believing then he was just putting on a brave face, Sydney wanted to take him to the hospital, a place Nigel had always hated. However, after he assured it wasn't as bad as it looked, she didn't insist on taking him but made him promise to tell her immediately if it got any worse.

"Is your butt still hurting, Nigel?" she asked, noticing he'd placed a cushion on the chair he'd been sitting on at the table.

"A bit" Nigel said, blushing and smiling at the same time…"I'm fine Syd, now go to bed….please….stop trying to embarrass me!"

She laughed a little but, of course, she hadn't just come to check on his health and embarrass him, she wanted to talk about Preston and to make Nigel realise he could be a good brother if he'd give him another chance. However, as soon as she broached the subject, Nigel became agitated.

"look Syd, every time I forgive him and allow myself to love him again; he does something else to spoil things! You've seen the way he acts, I just can't stand it anymore, it's like being on an emotional rollercoaster, I just want to shut my feelings off; it hurts too much otherwise."

"Oh Nigel, I know he can be a real pain, I've wanted to slap him a few times myself, but no relationship's perfect and nobody can agree about everything. Sometimes, like with you two, you simply misunderstand each other, you know…. take things the wrong way. Surely you can't believe that Preston would've risked his own safety earlier if he didn't care about you!"

"Syd, I know he cares…. deep down, it's not that, it's just, oh…. tomorrow he'll just throw it in my face and brag about saving his foolish baby brother. He'll make me feel like a blithering idiot who needs to be looked after, just like he's always done! You know what?... If it hadn't been for those three relic hunts he wouldn't have bothered trying to see me at all!" Nigel hung his head and continued "I….I never wanted to see him anyway!" he said very quickly, turning his back on her.

That last line and the look on his face, spoke volumes, making her realise she was absolutely right about him wanting his brother in his life, but his pride and for the reasons he'd just spoken about, or perhaps not mentioned, had made it difficult for him to face Preston.

"Nige, why don't you go and see him right now…. see what he says, you might be surprised by his reaction and don't forget; you saved his life too once! Remember?... When we were looking for Ann Boleyn's ring?" she said, trying to be as persuasive as possible, without actually pushing him.

"Syd, I'm tired, I want to go to bed…. I'm getting a headache" Nigel said, looking at the floor again.

"Those aspirins will help Nige….. night…sleep well" she said, thinking he was really making a big mistake, as she'd spoken to Preston earlier and he'd confided in her how terrified he'd been that Nigel could have been killed. She was glad he'd admitted that, although she wasn't surprised at all as she'd been convinced he loved his little brother for ages, which was why, of course, they were in Rio! However, her heart simply melted when he emotionally stated ''he missed Nigel terribly as he was the only real family he had in the world and the house was so lonely without him!'

Preston was a proud man, just like Nigel and neither found it easy to admit they were wrong, which was why they sometimes acted so childishly towards each other and why Sydney was so pleased Preston was, at least, opening up to her.

Back in his room Nigel was mulling over what Sydney had said and was beginning to feel quite guilty! He'd started to realise that she had a very valid point about Preston putting himself in danger and his conscience soon got the better of him. Carefully, putting on his dressing gown, to save getting dressed, he decided to go to his brother's room to give him another chance. Of course, regardless of Preston's brave act, Nigel still felt apprehensive about making the first move; after all, he thought, he'd needed Preston's help, support and guidance many times before, but felt he'd rarely received it. Walking out of his room he had no idea if this time would be any different, but he certainly hoped it would and that tomorrow Preston wouldn't throw it back in his face!

Feeling quite sore from the beating, he marched to his brother's room determined to try one last time to settle things between them. Putting his hand in a fist to forcefully knock on the door, he was taken by surprise, when, before he'd knocked, it suddenly opened.

"Oh Podge, um, I was um just um…. coming to see you…. come in, are you still OK? I have some paracetamol if you're in pain" Preston said, opening the door a little more to let Nigel in.

"Preston, I'm alright…. really, I um, I… I just um… came to thank you for helping me earlier that was…..well….. very brave of you" Nigel said, waiting for Preston to start belittling him.

"That's alright; I couldn't just stand there and let that brute hurt you. Um…. please would you sit down for a minute, I need to talk to you" Preston said, pointing to the sofa where Nigel noticed a rather tatty looking book caught between the cushions. He pulled it out, placed it on the coffee table and sat down, looking quite bewildered and nervous, as he could see that his brother was quite agitated.

"What is it? What's the matter" Nigel asked, dreading his response and thinking the worst. Preston tried to compose himself and took a deep breath.

"Podge, you know that Sydney brought us here to try and…you know…. mend our relationship…. make us...well…. brothers again" Preston said, looking quite sad.

"We are brothers Preston; you just don't often behave like we are" Nigel said, immediately wishing he hadn't said it, as Preston looked quite hurt.

"I know, I know and I'm sorry, but sometimes you're just so sensitive…. even when I'm only joking you take it to heart. The thing is… I've come to realise that….well… I misunderstand you too; which is probably why we argue so much…. but you know I honestly want us to be close again, I really do" Preston said, as he sat down beside his little brother and looked directly at him.

Nigel was very surprised as he sounded so sincere, but realising that was nothing new, he was too afraid to let his guard down and said "OK I'll give you that but… but well ….. every time I offer you my hand in friendship, you bloody well bite it off!"

"I know I do…I wish I didn't, it's just...you know…. habit really; because of what happened way back in the past. I really didn't think you wanted me as a brother then. When you were six I thought all you wanted was mother and father, so I pretended I didn't care…. It was a sort of defence mechanism really. I suppose, over time, things gradually got worse and I just ignored you when you really needed my help; but I was…well...you know…. jealous... I guess I thought mother and father loved you more than me and paid more attention to you because…..well, because of your amazing intelligence!"

Nigel just stared at Preston and continued to listen "father told me, much later on though; it was nothing to do with intelligence, but simply because you were lonely at school, as your classmates were all older than you. After that I tried really hard to be a good brother and we actually got along splendidly; do you remember?" Preston asked, noticing Nigel nodding and looking quite sad "we had some really good times, but then the age gap got in our way too, as there weren't many things we could do together…. well except for visiting museums; we had lots of fun in those!"

Nigel was hanging on his every word, so Preston continued "I think we must have been close for about three years, but then, well…. mother and father were killed in that awful accident and I became your guardian. You know someone else offered to look after you, but everyone who knew our family felt that….well um…. as your brother, I should do it."

Nigel looked very shocked but before he could ask who it was, Preston went on "Podge, I felt completely inadequate, I'd no idea, at nineteen, how to raise a child…. never mind a genius like you! You were so tiny for a twelve year old and so totally innocent and shy; but I had no choice in the matter; everyone was adamant that you were my responsibility. I was terrified! I was just a boy myself and even though I was grieving, just like you, nobody comforted me. People would come to the house to see us; they'd cuddle you and offer their help… but not me…. my pain was totally ignored. I couldn't help it…I began to resent you…I felt like you were taking away my youth!" Preston hung his head, and then looked at Nigel again "so um… that's why I eventually sent you, you know…. to boarding school."

"Oh" Nigel said, his heart in his mouth, waiting to hear the rest and wondering who'd offered to look after him.

"I know I was beastly to you when you came home from school; you only wanted to play chess and football, or perhaps go to the seaside… but I didn't! That's why I left you with neighbours and smacked you when you got frustrated and lost your temper. I'm so sorry…. I shouldn't have been so selfish and intolerant… or such a disciplinarian; I just felt that nobody cared about me! I know I shouldn't have neglected you; all you really needed from me was love and companionship, but you know what; regardless of all that you've become a credit to the Bailey family; mother and father would be so proud of you….like I am."

Preston was on the brink of tears as he finished his explanation, which he'd so obviously rehearsed many times.

Nigel just sat there with his mouth agape feeling quite shocked as Preston looked down at the floor, feeling so ashamed. After about thirty seconds Preston realised Nigel didn't appear to be angry or upset at all; he was so relieved. To Preston's amazement he'd actually managed to get everything off his chest and out in the open, without causing a bad reaction from his brother, which was a major achievement on his part!

"I, I had, no, no idea Pres" Nigel stuttered after a couple of minutes, quite unable to say much more. He looked at Preston and for the first time it was clear why, years ago, his brother had acted the way he did. He also realised now that when he was twelve he'd been so immersed in his own grief, when their parent's died, he'd no idea that Preston was suffering so badly. To him Preston was a man and he believed back then, but certainly not now, that men didn't cry. Nigel felt so guilty, as now it was clear that his brother had been forced, by circumstance, to grow up too soon and take responsibility for him. Not wishing to appear ungrateful to Preston, he decided not to ask who'd offered to raise him, although actually he'd liked to have known!

Nigel wanted to say so many things but he couldn't, he'd waited so long to hear Preston express himself this way to him, he was simply dumbstruck! Preston, of course, could see that Nigel was having a problem and handed him some water "Please Podge, I know you're stunned by what I've said but I need to know that it's not too late to start afresh."

Nigel sipped the water and looked at Preston "No...no.. Pr…Pres… it's n…not, too late, you're my brother and…I… I need you….I always have" Nigel replied, blinking back the tears.

"Really! You really need me! ... Oh my goodness, that's wonderful, I need you too!" Preston replied with a huge smile on his face, pulling Nigel over to him for a big brotherly hug. Preston hugged Nigel tightly, forgetting his poor bruised body "You know Sydney bringing us together like this is the best thing that's happened in years. We've both been acting like a couple of fools! We only have each other now; but if mother and father were still here they'd have knocked our heads together!"

"More likely we'd not have been able to sit down for a week!" Nigel said, giggling a little and trying not to think too much about his parents whom he missed so dearly. "Ouch! Preston! Loosen your grip a bit please!"

"Oh sorry! I forgot about that!" Preston said, relaxing his arm, although keeping it over Nigel's shoulder.

"Oh Podge, will you ever be able to forgive me for being so awful to you? I really am so…so sorry for everything" Preston said as he held onto Nigel's shoulder, as gently as possible.

"Nothing to forgive Pres, nothing" he said, as he leaned his head on to his brother's shoulder, trying to recall when he'd last done that. They held each other for a few minutes but were completely silent as they were both mulling over their conversation. To Nigel though, hearing what Preston had said was like mist clearing; he could finally see his brother for the person he really was and understood now why he'd behaved like he did for so long.

Suddenly Nigel noticed Preston looked worried again and his heart came into his mouth, hoping he wasn't going to tell him something that would cause a reversal of his feelings, upset him or, perhaps, worst of all….. tell him he'd just been joking!

**In the next few chapters I will be showing how Nigel and Preston repaired their relationship and everyone will have a nice time. It will be in later chapters when all hell breaks loose!**

**In the next chapter Sydney, Nigel and Preston go Christmas shopping and Nigel is persuaded to have a massage. **

**PLEASE REVIEW and/click into one of the boxes**** – your encouragement and kind words are always appreciated!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this so far.**

**In this chapter, if you read carefully, you will see several clues that something nasty must have happened to Nigel in the past!**

Preston looked at Nigel and saw fear in his eyes, but he had to explain just one more thing before they could completely start afresh, so he cleared his throat, took a deep breath and hoped Nigel wouldn't get angry.

"Podge um…. you know that book you pulled from between the cushions?" Preston asked, pointing to the coffee table where Nigel had placed it.

"Yes" Nigel said, wondering what on earth he was going to say.

"Well, it's a photo album; it's full of photographs of you with mother and father and um…some with me too. It um….well, it was supposed to have been a present for you on your thirteenth birthday" Preston said, hoping Nigel wouldn't suddenly fly off the handle, having never received it. However, he was relieved to see that Nigel kept listening, although he certainly looked confused. "Mother and I started collating it a few months before your twelfth birthday.

"But why didn't you give it to me Preston!?" Nigel suddenly jumped in and asked, feeling rather hurt, although he recalled he'd received his first computer and a new chess set in 1992, when he was thirteen.

"Podge, I…I genuinely thought it would upset you to have it after mother and father died, you used to get upset at the slightest mention of their names back then…. so I…. well…. I hid it in the attic!" Preston said, feeling rather guilty.

"But it's been years since then; surely you could have told me about it before now; mum would have wanted me to have it!" Nigel said, looking a little irritated but keeping his temper under control.

"Podge….I'm so sorry, I just forgot about it; I don't have the amazing memory you have…but you know when we fell out so badly, and you went to America; all I could think about was you! I was so depressed! Then…all of a sudden I remembered the album and...well; I've looked at it almost every day since then! I know I should have given it to you immediately I found it again…..but…I….well….I couldn't bear to part with it!

Nigel looked so surprised; he could see that his brother was being sincere, but they'd not been on good terms at all since he'd been working for Sydney and he actually believed, for a couple of years anyway, that Preston had forgotten all about him! Now he realised how wrong he'd been and that if he'd tried harder and not convinced himself that his brother didn't care, they'd have probably reconciled on their first relic hunt together!

"Thanks Pres, I...I guess I do understand" Nigel said, looking sincerely at his brother and then at the album. Preston looked quite delighted as he genuinely thought Nigel might reject him again!

Opening the album at the first page Nigel giggled, although he did feel a twinge of sadness as he looked at the faces of his beloved parents "Oh my goodness Pres! Look at me there! I look so chubby!" Nigel shrieked, as he pointed to a photo that said, '1980 - baby Nigel with mummy and daddy'.

Preston looked at the photo "You know that's when I first started calling you Podge! Well just look at you, you were such a little butterball! I meant it as a term of endearment though; you know mother wouldn't have tolerated me being unkind to you. Oh, I know you get upset occasionally now when I call you that, but well…I've done it for so long, it's difficult to change!" Preston said, being completely honest.

"You found it easy to call me Nigel when you thought I was being disobedient!... But I know what you mean….Mr Lanky!" Nigel said, giggling at his brother who laughed along with him, but then clipped him around the ear playfully!

"Ouch!" Nigel said, ducking out of the way and giggling some more.

Once they'd stopped laughing they looked at the picture underneath the baby one, which showed Nigel at age two and a half. He'd already lost his baby fat and was holding a book almost as big as him! "You were such a cute little thing and brainy as hell!….You were reading that book a year later!" Preston said, as they continued flipping through the pages, pointing out photographs of Nigel from his first day at school, when he was only four; playing the piano and then lots more, right up to the age of twelve; although there was only one of him as a six year old, which was taken on his birthday.

"Podge, I brought the album with me because I love it and well…just in case I managed to bury my stupid pride and make up with you!... I'd no idea what Sydney had planned though! Do you want to keep it?" Preston asked, almost hoping he'd say no.

"Of course I do!" Nigel replied, noticing Preston looked a little hurt "but I'll get some copies done for you Pres; if you like."

"Oh…I would, thanks!" Preston said as he smiled at his brother, realising that his sensitivity wasn't always such a bad thing, regardless of the fact it had caused arguments between them in the past.

"So, Preston…..even if you still call me Podge; are you going to treat me like an adult from now on?" Nigel asked; smiling at his big brother with his head cocked to one side, making him look so cute.

"Well it'll be difficult if you look at me like that! Oh….I'll do my best, but you're always going to be my little brother and I can't help thinking of you that way…. You know you still look so young! In fact, with your hair like that you look just like you did at Oxford, during your first year" Preston said, looking at Nigel affectionately.

"Preston! I was fifteen!... Oh well…. I suppose I can live with that…. daddy!" Nigel joked; as he got up to go back to his room "Preston, I'm shattered; I'll see you in the morning…goodnight."

"Night Podge, sleep tight" Preston said, resisting the urge to kiss him goodnight and smiling at him as he walked to the door carrying the album under his arm.

**20****th**** Dec**

The following morning Sydney was up at 8.00 a.m. she was going for a jog before breakfast, as she quite often did. Having slept rather well, considering how worried she'd been about Nigel and Preston, she picked up the phone to call her assistant "morning Nige, did you sleep alright…how's the pain?" she asked, having waited for several rings before he picked up.

"Morning Syd..Y..yes I did" he lied "the pain's not that bad" he lied again; picking up the photo album off his pillow where he'd fallen asleep looking at it.

"I'll meet you in the restaurant for breakfast at 9.30" she said, giving him plenty of time, realising she'd woken him from a deep sleep. Calling Preston too she got a similar sleepy response, as he'd been unable to get Nigel off his mind and took a long time to drop off.

By 9.30 Sydney had showered, following her short jog and was ready for sparks to fly between the Bailey boys at breakfast. However, within minutes of her getting there the two men joined her and she immediately noticed how cheerful they looked!

"How're the bruises Nigel, let me see?" she said, tugging the shirt out of his trousers "are you sure the pain's not bothering you?"

"Excuse me Syd!" Nigel squealed, blushing bright red and slapping her hand away "people are watching! I um…wouldn't mind a couple more aspirin though…if you have any…..please."

She usually loved embarrassing him, but this time she didn't mean to, she was simply desperate to check he was really alright. Apologising as she handed him some pills, she noticed him pass Preston some toast before swallowing down the pain relief.

"Thanks Podge, I hope those help a bit…..um …have some eggs and bacon, it looks really good" Preston said, trying not to look worried.

Seeing Nigel smile at his brother and then help himself to a good size portion of food, Sydney immediately realised something had happened between them, although she decided not to mention it and go with the flow. There was a look on Nigel's face that she hadn't seen in a long time; he looked truly happy; even if he was in pain.

"So what shall we do today then?" Sydney asked, not to either one of them in particular, although Preston replied; Nigel's mouth being full of eggs "I'd love to see the Tijuca Rainforest; I looked at the tour pamphlet in the lobby when I came down for breakfast, it looks amazing; what do you think Podge?"

"I think that would be great…. but it involves a long hike and I don't think I could quite manage that today. Do you mind if we just explore the shops near the hotel, I'm sure I'll ache less tomorrow" Nigel said, looking at Preston, pleadingly and then doing the same to Sydney.

"You are OK though aren't you Podge?" Preston asked, with genuine concern "and you um…. usually hate shopping."

"Yes, Yes… I am… I'm just a bit sore; it's nothing to worry about… I actually need a few things now that we're having a holiday instead of a hunt" Nigel said, screwing up his face in pain as he stretched over for the tea pot.

Sydney had seen him wince several times over the last few minutes, but she tried to ignore it as he claimed to be fine. However, she had to say something when he started wriggling his shoulders around, obviously to loosen them up "Nigel! Your neck is definitely bothering you, shouldn't you really be in bed? You're not always honest about how much pain you're suffering, but you shouldn't suffer in silence!"

"Syd I'm OK!...I am! Oh alright, my neck's quite stiff ….but I could still carry on if we were relic hunting! I'd just prefer not to do anything too strenuous today….if you don't mind… I really do want to go shopping!" Nigel said, blushing bright red again and giving her another pleading look! Sydney smiled, she'd seen him endure a lot of pain over the past few years and realised he'd probably be fine after a day or two, bed rest or not.

"Nigel, I want you to enjoy your holiday but if you're sure you don't want to rest….shopping's actually a really good idea….I need to buy you two a present anyway and….oh yes…I need some feminine products!" she laughed, as Nigel put both of his hands over his face and shook his head.

"Syd!"

"Sorry Nige; you're just so easy to embarrass!" she said, handing him some more toast and then changing the subject quickly so that Nigel could finish his breakfast.

She began to explain the problem with the shortage of rooms at the Copacabana; bearing in mind it was Christmas, and advised that either she, or Nigel, would have to move out and stay at another hotel… that is….if they could even find another hotel with any vacancies!

However, having noticed how congenially the brothers were behaving, she was hoping they'd take the hint and offer to share, although she wouldn't have minded one bit if Nigel moved in with her. She felt a little hurt though when Preston gave her an accusing look and said "don't be ridiculous! Nigel's in no condition to go wondering around the streets looking for a room; he can have the spare bed in my room; is that OK Podge?"

"Um…that would be great Pres…thanks….I'll um…ask for my things to be moved. But you know Sydney wouldn't have let me do that Preston…she'd have let me stay with her" Nigel said, having noticed his boss looked a little upset by Preston's remark.

"Oh yes…of course, I…I'm sorry Sydney…but…actually….that's not really appropriate now is it, sharing with Nigel!?" Preston said, looking at Sydney quite sternly.

Sydney just smiled, realising he was just being a little bit overprotective and old fashioned. Nigel, however, was quite relieved by Preston's kindness, as he considered it was one thing sharing a tent, or a room with Sydney for a night or two on a hunt, but quite another when they were on holiday! What if he got drunk and lost control when she unthinkingly exposed her beautiful half naked body to him, like she constantly did! He was a normal young man and when she acted like that he was never sure if she was serious! She'd kill him though, he thought, if he got it wrong!

As soon as the arrangements had been made to move Nigel's things, they left the hotel to explore the shops. It was a stiflingly hot day and it seemed really odd doing Christmas shopping in a tee shirt instead of the usual thick coat and gloves.

They went from shop to shop, where Sydney bought both brothers a sweater for when they return home, a couple of tee shirts for now and lots of cute little things for herself and her secretary, Karen.

It was true that Nigel hated shopping, but he really wanted to buy Preston and, of course, Sydney, something nice for Christmas. The problem was he'd seen so many things that Sydney would like, it was difficult to choose; especially on a limited budget. Finally, however, he settled for an extra-large bottle of her favourite French perfume and a beautiful white silk scarf.

Because he wanted the presents to be a surprise, bearing in mind Sydney always snooped in his bag when she thought he'd bought her a gift, he spent a little bit extra and got them gift wrapped.

Feeling the need, quite badly, to make up for the years he'd left Preston off his Christmas list, Nigel selected a burgundy coloured silk tie and an extremely expensive aftershave, hoping his brother would be pleased with his choice; especially as he'd no idea what he used and it was more than he could really afford.

Preston, of course, enjoyed shopping a lot more than his brother, probably because he'd no need to look at price tags like Nigel did. The fact was, although they'd both inherited money from their parents; Nigel, being so young when they died, had no access to his until he was 21. Since then he'd only been receiving a relatively small amount each month, although he'd be receiving the rest of his money quite soon, when he reached 25.

Having noticed his little brother admiring a very stylish blue shirt, which he, obviously, couldn't afford, Preston decided to purchase it, along with two others, one in a rather nice green colour; the other plain white with really elegant buttons.

Having picked up the shirts in the size Nigel had worn at home, Sydney explained they'd be too big for him now, as he was a full size smaller than then. Of course, before Nigel went to America, things were very different for him, as he had to rely on his brother for everything. Back then Preston chose all of his shoes and clothes, which were always in the style he wore himself and made Nigel look so old fashioned.

When Preston had finished fussing over Nigel, having realised just how much weight he'd actually lost in recent times, he bought a lovely bracelet for Sydney, which Nigel told him she'd like, and several gifts for the staff at the London house, some of whom, like Mrs Jackson, their former nanny and now their housekeeper, were thought of as family.

Nigel though, being the thoughtful young man that he was, had already posted gifts to them from America, a couple of weeks ago. Nevertheless, having seen the most perfect little cameo brooch, he bought a second present for Mrs Jackson, who'd taken care of him since he was born. Nigel loved her dearly and had always called her nana, as she was the closest thing to a grandmother he had. Preston, however, being an older child when she joined the family, had always called her Mrs Jackson, as he'd been told to do that by his parents.

Once they'd finished shopping, they found a nice little restaurant to have lunch, where they initially sat at a quiet table near a window. Prior to ordering, Preston tried to persuade his skinny little brother to have a four course meal; brought on, no doubt, by Nigel's revelation that he and Sydney, when relic hunting, often went long periods without food!

Having eaten a wonderful meal they moved further inside the restaurant, as not only was the food really good but the entertainment was too. There were some local dancers on a small stage, by the bar, which Preston, in particular, enjoyed. Clapping his hands loudly and smiling at the girls, he was taken completely by surprise when one of the dancers dragged him up on stage to dance with them! Sydney and Nigel thought it was hilarious; as Preston demonstrated, he really did have two left feet!

Feeling pretty tired from the shopping trip, Sydney was looking forward to having the massage she'd booked at the hotel spa. It was ages since she'd had time to pamper herself; so she intended to have a manicure and pedicure too.

Having watched Nigel rub the back of his neck several times that day, she was beginning to think he could do with a massage as well, although she was very aware he hated strangers touching him, particularly as intimately as a masseuse would and so, at first, she didn't suggest it.

However, whilst they were relaxing in the bar, about an hour before she was due at the spa, she noticed Nigel taking more pain killers and that he was looking completely exhausted. Therefore, believing Nigel's dislike of being touched was purely caused by shyness; she decided to broach the subject.

"Nige, you're looking really uncomfortable; why don't you join me at the spa this evening, a massage would do you the world of good?" she said, immediately noticing he looked horrified and knowing exactly what he'd say.

"Oh God…no Syd; there's too much…you know...touching and, and…feeling; not to mention…well… the lack of clothing!" Nigel said, blushing and turning away.

"Nige, they're professional masseuses here, they're not going to do anything but massage your aching body! You've nothing to worry about; you have a really nice body!" she said, noticing a look of scepticism on his face.

"It'll hurt!" Nigel replied, holding his hand to his chest.

"No it won't" she said, turning to Preston "you tell him!"

"Podge, I know why you don't like things like that… but really… you'll be OK; I'll um… come in with you and have one too. I used to have them a lot when I played rugby at Cambridge; it helped a lot when I got battered around; it really did. Look, I'll explain to the masseuse that you're nervous alright; I won't tell her anything else" Preston said, looking earnestly into Nigel's eyes, believing his brother would truly benefit from the experience but completely understanding his reluctance to have one.

"Oh um… alright… but you have to stay with me Pres...all the time" Nigel said, looking anxiously at his brother.

"I will, don't worry" Preston said, giving Nigel a knowing smile.

Sydney smiled at them both, but she couldn't help thinking there was more to that conversation than they were letting on. Of course, she didn't ask what it was as, clearly, neither brother wanted her to know!

Half an hour later all three of them were lying face down on massage tables with only a towel covering their behinds. Sydney was happily relaxing in one room, while the brothers were side by side next door, trying to do the same.

Prior to entering the rooms Preston, as promised, had explained to Camilla Fernandez, the spa manager, about Nigel's shyness and that he had some bruises and stiffness in the neck, which was causing him discomfort. Obviously, Camilla had dealt with things like this many times and promised her masseuse would be very careful and would not do anything to hurt or embarrass him.

Nigel was, naturally, very tense as Jenifer, the masseuse, worked on his tired aching body. Having smoothed essential oils over his skin she massaged them in very carefully, causing him no pain, which helped him relax. Listening to Jenifer's gentle voice, and that of his brother next to him, he soon felt much better and began to enjoy it a little. Occasionally though, Jenifer massaged a bit too low, which caused him to squeal and tense up again! Eventually though, Jenifer's professional approach paid off, as he almost fell asleep, which then enabled her to finish the massage to her usual high standard and leave Nigel feeling extremely comfortable.

Having thanked Jenifer for being so gentle, Nigel got dressed and walked to the lobby with his brother "Thanks for staying with me Pres; I do feel better, but I'm absolutely shattered; I hope you don't mind if I go to bed" he said, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"Oh no Podge, you get some sleep, I'll be up in a minute, I'm just going to say goodnight to Sydney….I'll tell her you're in bed" Preston said, smiling as he watched Nigel wander off to the lift.

Wondering if Sydney had finished her treatments Preston returned to the spa, hoping to catch her before she left. As luck would have it she was just coming out and almost bumped into him!

"Hi Preston, where's Nigel?" she asked, looking at the work the manicurist had done on her nails.

"Oh he's gone to bed, I think the massage did the trick; he'll be sleeping like a baby tonight" Preston replied "I was going to go up too, but would you like night cap in the bar?"

"Sure, I could kill for a glass of white wine!" she replied, as they strolled down the stairs to the elegant bar where Nigel had been beaten the previous night.

Trying not to think about what that thug did to his brother, Preston ordered a glass of whiskey and a white wine for Sydney. However, within minutes the waiter came back with two bottles on a silver tray, just like the one Preston used to hit the thug with "as promised Sir, these are on the house" the waiter said, placing a dish of nuts on the table as well.

"Goodness, thanks, that looks great" Sydney said, as the waiter gave a little bow and left.

"So Preston…. you're quite the hero around here!" she laughed "let me know if that beast comes back though, he won't know what's hit him!"

"Oh I'll be sure to do that Sydney!" Preston said, giving the room a once over.

"Was Nigel OK with the massage in the end?" Sydney asked, taking a small sip of her wine.

"Yes, he was alright, I stayed with him" Preston said, gulping down his whiskey and then pouring out another, hoping she wouldn't ask too many questions.

"Preston….you know he really shouldn't have needed you with him like that; is there something I should know?" she asked, becoming very curious and noticing Preston take several more gulps of his drink and then stare into his glass. "Look Preston, I notice all the time how nervous Nigel is about being touched, or even worse, how shy he is about his body. He was an absolute nightmare a couple of years ago when we were looking for a relic in a nude spa! He's a good looking guy and I know he loves women, yet he's so self-conscious, even with me! Preston, it's such a shame because girls adore him and I'm sure he'd date more if he could get over his shyness and be less inhibited…..but you know what Preston…..you should be the one helping him with things like this, not me!" Sydney said, looking at Preston who was still looking unhappy and was really deep in thought "Preston! Say something!" she said quite loudly, beginning to feel ignored.

"Oh! Sorry….Um…well….look Sydney, he's um…. well he's always been shy, especially as you've noticed… around females. It's.… well… it's because…..um… it's because he went to an all boys' schools! And um… he didn't have a lot of contact with girls until he went to Oxford; well, even then he… well…studied so hard he only had time for Amanda….I'll talk to him Sydney, alright" Preston said, acting a little sheepish.

"Hey it's OK Preston, I know it's difficult for you when you've barely spoken in years, but you know what….. lots of women actually find his shyness quite endearing; so I guess we shouldn't worry too much; maybe just the intimacy thing should be sorted out" she said, realising that Preston was finding the subject of Nigel's introversion quite challenging, but feeling even more convinced there was something he wasn't telling her. "Hey you know what though, he's not asked for my help with girls so much lately; so perhaps he's getting better, either that or he's found another confidant!" she said jokingly, but then suddenly wondered quite seriously, if he actually had!

"Sydney, I'll talk to him; as you say, I haven't been there much for him in the past, not when he really needed me anyway, but I'll make up for it now…. He, obviously, feels secure in your presence though, in fact, I've never known him trust anyone as much as you; well…um not since….well… our parent's died" Preston said, looking a little shifty as he looked towards the stairs…... "Actually, you know what; I don't like leaving you on your own, but I'm quite exhausted; do you mind if I turn in?"

"Oh no, that's fine, actually I think I'll do the same" she said, quickly swallowing the last of her wine and getting up to leave with him "we're booked to see the statue of Christ the Redeemer tomorrow, so can you make sure Nigel's alarm goes off at seven. He might be difficult to wake up if he's taken some pain killers.

**In the next chapter they go and see the famous statue and trek in the Tijuca Rainforest where one of them almost drowns!**

**Please leave a nice review and ****tick a few of the boxes****, I need a bit of encouragement if I'm to perfect/tweak the next 30 or so chapters! **


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

21st Dec

The next day they were all up by 7.30 a.m. and neither Sydney nor Preston mentioned the previous night's conversation. They were, however, both pleased to see that Nigel seemed a lot more comfortable and that he was quite happy to go wherever they liked.

Having already discussed the things they wanted to do whilst in Rio, and bearing in mind that some tours had to be pre booked; they arranged a trip, by jeep, for the following day to the Tijuca Rainforest. They also booked a boat trip and a couple of other things for later in the week. Today, however, they were going to see the statue of Christ the Redeemer, way up on Corcovado Mountain.

Using the car that Preston had hired, they drove up the mountain as far as they could, believing they'd then have to climb the two hundred plus steps to the statue. However, upon parking the car they were delighted to discover that some brand new escalators had been installed, which Nigel, in particular, was glad to see.

"You keep your wallets safe guys, there're lots of pickpockets up here, especially when it's crowded" Sydney said, as they stepped onto the escalator and grabbed onto the rail. Nigel and Preston immediately passed their wallets to her to put in her bag, believing they'd be safer there!

Within a few minutes they were standing on the platform looking up at the face of Christ; all three of them feeling genuinely awestruck. The statue was magnificent and even more beautiful than any of them had imagined. Underneath it, actually inside the base, there was a small chapel, which they could tell was very pretty inside, even though it was crammed full of people.

"Do you want to go in Syd?" Nigel asked; standing in tip toes outside the entrance to try and see inside.

"Yes, actually I would, but it's far too crowded right now; I don't want to be crushed and I don't want you to be either, Nigel; let's try a bit later, alright" Sydney said, hoping the crowds would dissipate quite soon.

"Yes, you're right Syd, I've already been wacked on the head by a backpack!" Nigel said, rubbing the side of his head and making his way towards the ornate wall that surrounded the statue "hey, take a look at the views of Rio, it looks amazing from up here."

"It's stunning Nige….but look at those trees down there; that's actually the Tijuca Rainforest where we're going tomorrow" Sydney said, feeling quite excited "what do you think Preston?"

"I think it looks quite splendid; I'm so looking forward to it…I hope you're going to enjoy it too Podge, you seem quite well today?" Preston said, suddenly realising that Nigel had vanished! Believing that his little brother must have been swept away in the crowds who were pushing and shoving each other, he knew it would be difficult to spot him. Feeling a little anxious, as he realised Nigel might get hurt even more if he was jostled around too much, he stood on a small wall to boost him up in the hope he'd be able to see him from there.

Having momentarily lost sight of the brothers Sydney suddenly heard Nigel scream very loudly "Preston!" Turning around to where the scream had come from she immediately caught sight of Preston pushing his way through the crowd to get to his brother. She tried to move forward herself, of course, believing that Nigel was hurt, but she didn't get far. However, before she could get anywhere near to Nigel's position, Preston had pulled him free from the clutches of a group of Brazilian girls, who'd pushed him against the wall having dared each other to kiss the most handsome young man on the platform!

Once Preston had found Sydney again she laughed and handed Nigel a tissue to wipe the lipstick off his face. However, neither she, nor Preston, noticed that underneath the tissue he actually looked quite scared; nor did they see that two shirt buttons were missing and his zip was undone!

"It's not funny! They almost crushed me to death!" Nigel squealed, giving Sydney a slightly irritated look as he turned his back on her and pulled up his zip "I don't mind being kissed by a beautiful woman… but ten of them grabbing at my….well, it's too much!"

"Sorry Nige; that's what happens when you look so damn sexy" Sydney said, believing he was just a little embarrassed. In fact she'd no idea that he was actually very upset, as he was deliberately hiding his true feelings from her.

"Yes Podge, that baby face of yours has always made women want to kiss you!" Preston said, with a smirk on his face until he noticed Nigel looked at him strangely "oh um…..come over here a minute, Podge."

Nigel looked down at the floor and walked with his brother to where they'd be out of earshot of Sydney, who then realised something wasn't quite right but she didn't follow them as it appeared they wanted some privacy.

"They didn't just kiss you, did they Podge?" Preston asked, when they were far enough away from Sydney.

Nigel shook his head "no they…..um….look don't worry about it Pres; I'm OK."

"But Podge… I do worry! Look, do you want to go back to the hotel?" Preston asked, noticing Nigel sit down on a large rock that didn't look very comfortable.

"No! Sydney will want to know why and I don't want to explain it! She just thinks it's… well…. because I'm shy and…and I… I'd rather like it to stay that way. Please Pres, just keep it between you and me; I'll be alright… honestly, things like that happen now and again and I always managed to get over it" Nigel said, putting on a brave face.

Preston sat down next to him, shook his head and put his arm across the back of his brother's shoulders. They stayed there for a few minutes and then Nigel suddenly got up and took a few photos "um… Pres shall we see if we can get inside the chapel now?"

"Oh!….OK Podge; if you're sure you'll be OK….just let me know if you want to talk about it…alright? Of course I um….won't say anything to Sydney…. but you know, one of these days you're going to have to explain to her what the problem is" Preston said, getting up off the rock and giving his brother a quick reassuring hug.

Wondering where Sydney was, as she'd gone from where they'd previously been standing, Preston noticed her sitting on a wall looking in their direction. As the crowds had thinned down a bit, a couple of coachloads of tourists having left, he was able to wave at her to indicate that he and Nigel had finished talking and she should come over.

She walked over to them rather quickly, believing something was wrong, as she'd seen them talking and looking quite serious for the past fifteen minutes or so. "Preston is everything alright? Nigel's not sick is he?" she asked, looking a short distance behind him to where Nigel was stood by the ornate wall "he seemed a bit off just now."

"Um..no, no, he's um…fine, maybe a little tired…but he um…. just wondered if we could try again to see inside the chapel" Preston replied, hoping she couldn't tell he was hiding something from her.

"Sure, it's a bit clearer now, let's get in before the next coachload of tourists arrive!" Sydney said, waving at Nigel to come with them but feeling a bit unsettled.

Sydney stayed inside the chapel longer than Nigel or Preston, as they both found it too claustrophobic. However, when she came out she saw Preston sat on the wall next to Nigel with his arm over his younger brother's shoulder again. She wasn't sure why Preston was apparently comforting his brother, but her heart filled with gladness as she realised she'd genuinely achieved something very special by bringing the two of them together, even if she did feel bit left out!

Having been on the mountain for almost two hours the heat was beginning to take its toll and the crowds were, once again, gathering. They, therefore, decided to make their way back to the car and return to the hotel.

Immediately upon arrival at the Copacabana they had a very quick shower and then went to the restaurant for lunch. Nigel seemed to be in better spirits by then and ate quite well considering his earlier mood. Of course, he didn't want Sydney to ask any questions about what happened, so he did what he'd always done in the past, pretended that nothing was wrong and tried to put it behind him.

Straight after lunch they relaxed for an hour or two and then went for dip in the pool where Sydney secretly inspected Nigel's body for further, or worsening bruising. Her main concern was that he was fit enough for the rainforest tour in the morning, as there'd be other guests with them who might not be sympathetic if he couldn't keep up. Even though he seemed physically OK earlier, he was tired by late morning, but that, of course, they'd all put down to the heat more than pain or anything else and anyway, she and Preston were tired too. Thinking his body was beautiful, bruised or not, she was pleased to see that although it hadn't improved very much, he was moving around quite freely in the water, which indicated to her he'd be fine.

That night, having been told that the jeeps would collect them from their hotel at 6.30 a.m. they decided to go to bed early. Sydney made sure she put one of her many bikinis in her bag and reminded the brothers to bring their swimming trunks, wet or not, as they'd be getting the opportunity to swim in a couple of small lakes on the trip. Trying to think of everything to ensure Nigel would be alright, she reminded him to bring aspirin and a full bottle of sunblock, as he always burnt without it!

22nd Dec

In the morning, right on time, four jeeps arrived; all of them full except the one that Sydney, Nigel and Preston would be using. Sydney was going to drive the jeep as naturally, she was completely confident driving in a foreign country. Preston was particularly excited about this tour as he'd never been to a rainforest before. Nigel too was looking forward to it, even though he'd been in plenty of them, as he'd never visited one for fun.

The Tijuca Rainforest is home to thousands of different species of birds, animals, reptiles and insects, none of which Sydney or Nigel had ever had time to photograph or enjoy looking at before; as it was always on relic hunts they'd find themselves in places like this. This was now their chance to take some good quality photographs for their students back home and for their own personal albums too.

The tour guides, Don and Diego, who were both native to Brazil, pointed out many types of wildlife to their guests; including sloths, monkeys, snakes, lizards and insects. Naturally, being so used to the rainforest creatures, they had no problem with picking them up and did so quite often! Of course, Sydney, Nigel and Preston immediately pointed out their dislike of snakes and spiders, although they explained they were happy to see them from a distance. Don and Diego, hoping for a big tip, wanted to ensure that their guests enjoyed every aspect of the forest; including viewing things they disliked! Having guided tourists through the rainforest for several years, they were aware that a lot of the wildlife stayed in the same place for several days, particularly things like sloths. Therefore, using their knowledge and expertise, they were able to show people in their tour group all sorts of animals by using powerful binoculars, which didn't disturb the wildlife at all and made the experience really exciting for everyone.

Sydney, Preston and Nigel thought the guides were amazing, as they did everything possible to make to tour interesting and fun. Preston, however, was not only enjoying the beauty of the forest; he was also enjoying watching his younger brother laughing and joking around, as he'd hardly ever seen him do that, even as a child; although he'd occasionally play with his father after he'd read him the story of St Gabriel. Nigel had always been so serious; in fact, Preston could hardly ever remember seeing him look happy, except for when he was very young. That was actually a little upsetting to him now, as he believed he could have made a big difference to Nigel's life had he not sent him to boarding school and took proper care of him after their parents died.

Forcing that thought to the back of his mind, he promised himself that from now on he'd always take care of Nigel, no matter how old he got, as in truth; he could do nothing to change the past but he was determined to give him a happier future!

Hiking through the forest the three of them were constantly laughing, especially at the antics of the monkeys, who'd been given food by the guides to encourage them to come closer to the group. Realising these primates were quite happy around people, Sydney and Nigel managed to take some marvellous photographs.

Whilst watching the cute little animals, Nigel told his brother about the time he and Sydney helped a prince find a magical lamp called the Light of Truth. He explained that the lamp was an incredible relic that could reveal if the person holding it was loyal to the prince. Although, Preston was very sceptical about the existence of such a lamp, Sydney confirmed that, amazingly, it was all true and that the Light of Truth not only existed but it appeared to work! He was quite stunned by that, but he thought it was hilarious the way Nigel explained how, before they found the lamp, a monkey stole his spectacles and caused chaos as he tried to get them back. He was so animated; which brought to mind the way their father told them stories when they were children.

Listening to his younger brother tell that story made him realise that, although Nigel was terribly shy and rather nervous, he had, in fact, seen and done some incredible things since he'd been working for Sydney. Of course, the problem was, the more he learned about those things, the more aware he was of the danger Nigel was in!

As the day progressed they reached a small lake where Sydney immediately stripped off and changed into her bikini; causing Nigel, of course, to avert his eyes and bump into a tree! He was blushing bright red and rubbing his shoulder as he shouted "Sydney will you please stop doing that! You'll get yourself arrested one of these days!"

"You shouldn't be looking!" she called back, as she walked over to the lake and jumped in.

"I…I…wasn't! I was coming over to ask if you needed help with your bag! Then you just whipped off your blouse!" He yelled, suddenly realising she was making fun of him "Um…is it cold and…..deep in there?"

Sydney giggled. She'd have loved to have pretended it wasn't, so he'd jump in with her, but he'd suffered enough in the last couple of days, so she decided against it "Yeah Nige, it is; so don't even think about swimming, you go and sit under that big tree and dangle your feet in the water, that'll cool you off" she said, pointing to a nice shady spot.

"Thanks Syd" he replied, wondering how the hell she could stand it!

Preston, who like Nigel, wore his swimming trunks under his trousers, heard Sydney splashing around and decided to join her. However, having thrown his trousers over a branch, he lost his nerve a little and instead of jumping in he slowly waded towards her until it was too deep to walk. Feeling the cold far too much and noticing Sydney swam much faster than him, he stayed in for less than five minutes and then got out to warm up.

Having sat next to Nigel, he immediately noticed his brother was boiling hot, even with his feet in the water and sipping an ice cold Coke. Hoping to rectify that, he dipped the corner of his towel in the lake and handed it to Nigel to wipe his face.

"Thanks Pres, I wish I could have gone in, but I think I'd catch my death and probably cause my middle ear problem to flare up! Aren't you freezing?" Nigel asked, handing the towel back to Preston, which he wrapped around his shoulders.

"I'm fine now, the water's really icy though" he replied, lying down and closing his eyes.

Nigel leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes too when suddenly there was an almighty scream coming from the lake!

"Hey! Help, I have a cramp, help!" Sydney shouted, obviously in a lot of pain.

Nigel was up in an instant and without a single thought for his own safety; he rushed towards the place where he'd last seen her. Spotting her much further out, he was about to dive in, when Diego, grabbed hold of him from behind and yanked him off his feet! Don, who was a large muscular man with an armful of tattoos, then sped right past them, jumped in and soon had Sydney back on dry land, where the other people in the tour group stood around watching him massage her leg.

Nigel thrashed around to get free from Diego's grip and he eventually let him go, allowing him to run over to Sydney, who was lying on the ground with her leg in Don's hands!

"Are you OK Syd!?" Nigel asked, kneeling down beside her and taking her hand "I thought you were going to drown!"

"I'm fine Nige; thanks to Don" Sydney said, feeling a little embarrassed at having to be rescued.

"Oh..um yes, thanks Don" Nigel said, looking at the large man.

"You're welcome; the water is actually much colder than normal. Is that OK now Ms Fox?" he asked, letting go of her leg when she indicated it was "I'll just be over there if you need me." Realising Sydney was fine he walked back to the jeep with the other people from his group, thinking what a really beautiful woman she was!

Sydney and Nigel were naturally feeling a little shook up, but they'd been in much worse situations than this, although nobody had tried to prevent Nigel from helping her before.

Still kneeling by Sydney, Nigel gently wiped her face with a towel and then noticed Diego and Preston coming towards them, both looking very angry "kid! You could have put yourself in the same position as Ms Fox trying to jump in like that!" Diego yelled loudly, pointing his finger at Nigel and making him feel like an idiot "your brother here almost broke his neck chasing after you!"

"Yes I did! You scared the life out of me Podge! I've a good mind to put you over my…..um…well…. don't you dare do anything like that again!" Preston shouted, his eyes beginning to water having momentarily forgotten Nigel was an adult. Nigel was mortified; he just wanted to curl up and die, until Preston pulled him up off the ground and hugged him tightly…"sorry Podge you just scared me" he whispered.

Nigel buried his face in Preston's shoulder to hide his embarrassment, but he'd seen real fear in his brother's eyes and understood why he was so furious "I didn't mean to Pres, I'm sorry... I didn't think; I'm just so….so used to acting on instinct…. are you OK?"

"Yes….I just fell over that log" Preston said, pointing to a tree that was lying on the ground "I just have a scratch on my hand, that's all."

Sydney herself hadn't actually seen Nigel's attempt to rescue her, but having heard the reactions to it and knowing Nigel so well, she knew he'd be feeling humiliated and upset; although she was pleased he hadn't flown off the handle, as he'd been known to do, as Preston and Diego obvious reacted like that out of concern for his safety.

It had never been necessary for the two relic hunters to make a fuss when the other had done something heroic or daring; however, on this occasion Sydney made an exception and gushed "Hey thanks Nige! You really are my Nigel the brave!... Preston you should be proud of him!"

"I am proud of him...I am!" Preston said, looking a little hurt

Getting up off the ground, she pulled Nigel away from his brother, held him close and gently kissed his cheek. Nigel just smiled, blushed a little more and said "um looks like lunch is ready."

Lunch was served right on the edge of the lake, as the guides had brought lots of food with them in large cool boxes. Using some local people to do the cooking, they ensured they'd be able to look after their guests at all times, as the rainforest, as had already been seen, could be a dangerous place for inexperienced visitors.

Sydney was very hungry and ate a huge plate of chicken, potatoes, salad and fruit, although Preston, having gotten so upset, ate very little. Nigel too just ate few grapes and a couple of chicken wings, as he was feeling a little awkward and the heat was getting to him. He'd eaten a large breakfast anyway, so nobody worried too much, although Preston insisted that he drank plenty of juice, realising the important of keeping hydrated, the temperature being what it was. Nigel, of course, told him to do the same and tried to encourage him to eat, as Preston was not used to going without food, like Nigel was.

The day went by really fast and it was soon time to head back to the hotel for nice shower and dinner in one of the restaurants.

That evening in their room, Nigel explained to Preston more about his and Sydney's working relationship and how they look after each other on relic hunts and at home. He went into some detail about how Sydney had saved him on numerous occasions and how he'd saved her a few times too, forgetting how horrified Preston would be to hear that!

"Podge you really aren't physically equipped to be a relic hunter and if I thought I could persuade you to come home with me, then I would! The thing is, I can tell by your enthusiasm and by the stories you've told me, that you love your job and care about Sydney at lot….but…well… I guess what I'm really trying to say is….please, please be careful and don't take any unnecessary risks, especially to impress Sydney!" Preston said, wishing he could just take Nigel back to London with him to keep him safe.

"I won't Pres; I never have…. well…not really…. I've done things to impress girls that I've liked though; but nothing life threatening! You see, Sydney doesn't expect me to fight or take charge of things just because I'm a man, she likes me just the way I am, regardless of the fact she's stronger than me. Of course, at the lake today I just went into relic hunter mode because if we'd been on a hunt together I'd have had no choice but to try and help her."

Preston didn't feel any better hearing that, but other than tell his younger brother to take care of himself; there was little he could do. It was difficult for him to come to terms with Nigel's way of life, especially since he felt so close to him now and wanted to protect him but, of course, he knew he had to. Nigel was proof that no matter what had happened in the past, if someone has faith in you and you can trust them, you can achieve almost anything. His little brother was doing things now that he never dreamed he'd be capable of, as he'd been such a small, shy and lonely child!

Over the next couple of days they continued to have a wonderful time and took tours of the botanical gardens and the city of Rio itself. They also took a short boat trip along the coast; which they all enjoyed, although it made Nigel a little woozy.

On Christmas Eve the hotel put on a free buffet for their guests who were staying over the Christmas period, which enabled them to mingle with each other before Christmas day, when many activities were planned.

**In the next chapter read about their Christmas Day activities.**

**Please review and tick one of the boxes so that you always get an e-mail when the next chapter has been posted. There are a lot more chapters!**


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

25th Dec

Having been in Rio since 19th December and having had such a busy and eventful time, they planned to spend Christmas day in the hotel where they could eat, drink and sleep whenever they liked!

A few weeks ago Preston was looking forward to Christmas, because he thought Sydney would have been able to talk Nigel into visiting him in London this year. Of course, when he found out she'd been unsuccessful; he felt he'd lost the chance to settle his differences with him, which he'd really hoped to do. After that setback, he couldn't have imagined in his wildest dreams that today he'd be sitting in a hotel room with Nigel and that they'd be so close.

Having gotten up quite early the brothers wished each other Happy Christmas, gave each other a hug and Preston went into the shower. Once he'd finished Nigel did the same, telling his brother he wouldn't be long as he could hardly wait to give Sydney her gift. Preston certainly understood, as he felt much the same about him, as he realised he now had the chance to make up for the years he considered he'd neglected Nigel. Feeling quite excited, the minute Nigel came out of the bathroom, he handed him a present "Oh thanks Pres, but don't you think we should wait until we go to Sydney's room to open our gifts?" Nigel said, looking at the beautifully wrapped parcel.

"Yes….but not that one, I'd like you to open that now" Preston said, looking at his brothers bruises which seemed to be fractionally better.

"Oh… OK then" Nigel replied, shrugging his shoulders and squeezing the present wrapped in shiny gold paper.

Preston laughed; remembering Nigel never liked 'soft gifts' when he was younger, as all he wanted was books!

"Oh Preston, thank you so much…. it's fantastic!" Nigel said, as he ripped open the parcel containing the beautifully tailored blue shirt that he remembered seeing in the mall a few days before "Pres it's just perfect…. but…but oh my God….it was over £150! That's far too much money for a shirt!"

"Don't you worry about that Podge, you deserve it, I wish I'd let you choose clothes for both of us when you lived at home; I might have found a wife by now if you had! I've no fashion sense at all!... Now put the shirt on!" Preston said, taking the paper off him and tossing it in the bin.

Nigel smiled and did as he was told "it's the best shirt I've ever had Preston; I can't wait for Sydney to see me in it!"

"Goodness! I don't blame you, you look amazing…..if I looked like you I'd chat up every beautiful women in the hotel! Of course, they're not interested in me, all they want is you! They've been drooling over you since we arrived!"

"No they haven't…...have they!?" Nigel replied, looking rather surprised and embarrassed.

"Of course they have Podge! You'll probably have those gorgeous Brazilian women fighting over you as soon as you go down for breakfast!" Preston said, laughing at his little brother's reaction.

"Pres! That's not funny!…You know I'm nervous around women…. especially if they're passionate, volatile and…and…. beautiful, or like those girls by the statue! Oh I know they were only school girls, but just the same their hands were all over me….I'll just panic if any of the local women come on to me, you know…..they're just too…. well…..hot blooded! I have to get to know a girl really well before I can even ask her out, never mind anything else! It takes me months before I feel confident enough to sleep with a girl" Nigel said, suddenly realising his brother might disapprove of that!

"Sleep with a girl!? Oh!... you're not a virgin anymore!?" Preston said, looking a little shocked.

"Um…No…I…I'm not….please don't be angry Preston…..I'm not promiscuous, really I'm not!" Nigel said, although he understood the real reason why his brother was so surprised.

Preston was very quiet for a few seconds but then he looked at Nigel who seemed a little anxious to hear his response "Podge, don't worry…. so long as you used protection and didn't suffer any psychological problems afterwards, I'm OK with it! I'm…um…. pretty sure you were completely innocent when you left home to work for Sydney though….weren't you? Amanda swore she didn't touch you!"

"No she didn't..…look…..I um know I told you Amanda was the love of my life but, obviously, that wasn't true….I was only 15 when we met at Oxford….but she was almost 20. We were actually just study companions for a couple of years and then she dropped out of university and worked as a doctor's receptionist, just outside Oxford. I was still studying, of course, but when I was nearly 20 we bumped into each other again and went on a few dates…of course, nothing serious happened… and um….then she dumped me for no apparent reason…um I expect now it was because she found me….well…too immature. Of course, I was devastated at first, but a few months later I left Oxford, you got the job at the British Museum and I was offered the job at Trinity."

"Podge she was probably always after the Bailey money, even though I know she really liked you. I never gave you much spending money, so she probably just looked for someone who'd give her expensive things, rather than go to the cinema or have dinner with you" Preston said, truly believing that was true. He'd, of course, brought Nigel up very strictly and ensured it was not commonly known at Oxford University that he was from a wealthy family. This was because Nigel was their youngest student at the time and he wanted to protect him from gold digging women who might take advantage of him! "I'm glad I kept you poor now…considering what Amanda did a couple of years ago! So um…. how did you manage to get over your intimacy problems enough to….well…make love to a young lady?"

"Um….well….I'd been in America a little while… and um… well I met this girl, Lori, who was a teacher. She was as nervous and shy as me and I got know her…..and well…..one thing led to another. I've actually only gone that far with three girls…almost four….I get dumped a lot because I'm not like other men Pres" Nigel said, hoping his straight laced brother would still be alright with this.

"What do you mean by almost four!?" Preston asked, wondering what had happened there and hoping it wasn't something bad!

"Oh….well, it was a long time ago….um…. I met this girl…Nicole, she's French….and I um…thought I knew her quite well, I felt very comfortable with her anyway. She was so sweet and pretty….then would you believe it….we were actually in bed and she told me she felt we didn't know each other well enough! Naturally, I was a little disappointed; but I understood …..Oh, but I'm sure her problem was nothing like mine!"

"She sounds perfect Podge…do you still see her?" Preston asked, hopefully.

"No…she went back to France….but I really liked her... I was so miserable after she left and um….. I've only slept with one girl since then and that was…well…. a while ago. I get so scared when women don't give me enough time to get to know them before they want to take things further!" Nigel said, looking a little sad "Pres, It's so embarrassing…. all I really want is a normal life! I guess I'll always have initial problems with women, but I just can't discuss it with anyone…well except you, of course; I wish I hadn't been so stubborn about calling you over the past few years."

"Oh Podge; I'm so sorry…I'm more to blame for that than you…. look I promise I'll never let anything come between us again, when you need to talk about things like that, or anything else; you just come to me. Of course, my love life's no more active than yours, but if it helps to talk….. I'll be here for you. I'm sure you'll find the right girl one day.…you're so good looking; Oh I know you have a bit of a temper, but you're sensitive and kind and any woman would be lucky to have you as a friend or husband" Preston said, hoping he'd find the right woman for himself one day too! "You know Podge, you're quite amazing; A few years ago I really didn't think you'd ever have a normal relationship with a woman, but look at you now! You're obviously far more resilient than I thought! Look…. if you happen to see a young lady at the Christmas celebrations who you'd like to talk to….you let me know and I'll speak to her for you, alright?"

"Oh um.…thanks Pres….but I think I'll be OK…..um of course if you see me getting harassed by anyone, feel free to hit them over the head with a tray!" Nigel said, laughing at his brother, who he suddenly felt even closer to now, having revealed something very personal to him.

"I certainly hope I won't have to do that again! That's more Sydney's thing, I think!" Preston said, smiling at his brother.

"Um…you know Syd's helped me find dates for some of the functions at Trinity… but I never liked her doing it…..if only she wasn't my boss" Nigel said, staring into space and then noticing the shocked expression on his brother's face.

"Podge…are you attracted to Sydney?" Preston asked, noticing Nigel's face instantly turn bright red.

"Pres, she….she's the most beautiful woman in the world …..oh… of course I'm attracted to her! But as far as I know she just thinks of me as…well… a brother…and her employee. She keeps saying I'm good looking and that I have a nice body…and you know….things like that….but it's always to give me confidence with other women, or to get me to do something, not because she fancies me…she never shows any indication she likes me as a man at all" Nigel said, shrugging his shoulders "I have to accept the way she feels about me though because I'm…well…I'm just not her type."

"She's a few years older than you Podge and very much a woman of the world….I don't really see her as um…your wife. That young lady, Nicole, is more like the person you need; Sydney would be too….well….overpowering…but she is very beautiful though…very beautiful indeed" Preston said, hoping that Nigel wouldn't feel upset by his opinion.

"I know…..anyway she always seems to go for tall muscular men, who apparently have no manners ….but quite honestly we have such a great relationship….I'm um… content with things as they are" Nigel said, looking a little shifty as, of course, he knew deep inside he was lying to himself.

"That's alright then Podge, because if you genuinely want stability and a normal life, Sydney's not really the woman for you. I'm only saying that because I don't want you missing out on more suitable ladies; like the ones in London …..you know… the daughters' of mother and father's friends" Preston said, worrying a little that Nigel would never find happiness if he was carrying a torch for Sydney!

Nigel smiled at his brother "those girls would probably be more interested in you than me, Pres. Um, shall we go and see Sydney now…she'll be bashing our door down to get at her presents pretty soon!"

"Oh, um…yes, of course…. I suppose we'd better…I um didn't mean for us to have such a serious conversation today of all days…. but….well, I'm glad we did now" Preston said, although he really did have mixed feelings about what they'd discussed "um tuck your shirt in Podge."

Although there was a special gift exchange party arranged for later that morning, Sydney had invited the brothers to her room before breakfast to unwrap their presents, as she realised she'd never be able to wait that long!

As soon as they knocked on her door she opened it in seconds "where've you been I want my presents!" she said, laughing at their stunned faces as they noticed she was wearing a beautiful, but very revealing, red and white dress.

"Oh um…. morning Syd" Nigel said, trying not to look at her cleavage as he walked with Preston into her room.

"Wow! Nige….you look stunning in that shirt!" she said, watching him smile at the compliment.

"Thanks Syd….it's a present from Preston; I …I've never had such an expensive shirt before!" he said as he blushed and handed Sydney one of her presents

"Oh thanks" she replied as she excitedly ripped off the paper "Nige! It's beautiful! A white scarf is just what I need to go with this dress! It's just perfect!"

Noticing Nigel had another present in his hand and that he was offering it to her, she looked a little surprised as the scarf was, obviously, quite expensive "have you bought me two gifts Nige?" she asked, noticing he look very happy.

"Yes….I…I didn't know what you'd like best so I ended up buying both" Nigel said, watching her open the lovely perfume that he knew she loved so much.

"Wow! Nige…. the bottle I have here is almost empty, thank you so much" she said, dabbing the perfume on her neck….I think I must be paying you too much! Come here and give me a big Christmas kiss!" Nigel blushed from head to toe but he very happily obliged!

Feeling a little left out and watching Nigel enjoy yet another hug from Sydney, Preston waited for the two relic hunters to separate and then handed a gift to Sydney. She immediately opened it and looked quite stunned! "Wow! What a gorgeous bracelet Preston, thank you so much! It looks very familiar though for some reason" she said, trying to think where she might have seen one like it before and believing it must have been at the mall a few days ago.

"You're most welcome Sydney; actually it was Podge who chose it, he was convinced you'd love it" Preston said, very pleased that his brother was correct.

"Good choice Nige!" Sydney said, looking at the beautiful piece of jewellery.

Nigel smiled "I remember you admiring one exactly like that in Holland, I saw your face light up when you looked at it, but I couldn't afford to buy it for you….. even for your birthday" Nigel said, wishing he was wealthy enough to have bought it now, although he knew she still loved his gifts.

"Nige! How on earth do you remember things that?!" she asked, looking quite amazed.

"Just got a good memory Syd" he replied, looking at her wrist as she wriggled it around to make the bracelet sparkle.

"I'm afraid I haven't gotten you two anything like as wonderful as you've bought me…but I hope you like these anyway" Sydney said, handing them each two parcels. Both brothers were delighted to receive the rather distinctive sweaters, which were made from pure wool and would be great for wearing in the snow when they got home. Preston's was green with a white zigzag pattern over the shoulders, while Nigel's was blue but, obviously, a couple of sizes smaller. They were also pleased when they opened the other present, as that contained some designer tee-shirts, which they realised would come in handy right now.

"Open that one now Podge" Preston said, pointing to the last unopened present.

"Who's it from Pres, I've had my presents from both of you" Nigel said, looking confused.

"Well, that's another one from me….so go on open it!" Preston said, watching Nigel look quite embarrassed again.

"Oh my God Preston!…..Those are the other two shirts I liked!….Thank you….Hey! You must have been spying on me to have known I liked those!" Nigel said, watching Preston and Sydney laughing and looking at each other. "They're brilliant anyway Pres….but you've spent far too much money on me" Nigel said, remembering the price tags and looking at his brother.

"I want to make up for the past…Nigel…as I said earlier, I've no fashion sense and I've always dressed you far too old for your age" Preston said, regretting the past and recalling that when Nigel was a boy he was never permitted to wear anything casual, even jeans were out of the question!

Having exchanged all of their gifts they all went downstairs to the restaurant for breakfast. Christmas breakfast at the Copacabana was amazing and consisted of all the usual food with many special additions; including smoked salmon and champagne!

After breakfast they spent a little time relaxing in the lounge, where an excellent musician was playing a white grand piano. Sydney could see by the expression on their faces just how much the brothers were enjoying it, particularly Preston, who'd actually played piano with the London Symphony Orchestra!

At 10 a.m. they all made their way to the ballroom where everyone, including the off duty hotel staff, gathered around an enormous Christmas tree to exchange presents. Even though they'd already done that, it was still great fun for Sydney, Nigel and Preston to watch the other guests, particularly small children, opening their gifts.

There were lots of shrieks of joy as the children tore the paper off their packages; some of whom received dozens and some just one or two. Watching the children brought back fond memories for Sydney as she recalled her own childhood; particularly when she'd sit down with her parents by the Christmas tree at home, in Hawaii, opening her gifts. Of course, when her mother passed away it was the worst day of her life and she still missed her to this day, particularly at this time of year. However, when she thought about Nigel, she realised just how much happier her young life had been compared to his, as he'd lost both his parents when he was 12. Of course, she was lucky enough to still have her father, Randal Fox, whom she'd spoken to on the phone early that morning.

Looking around the room Sydney noticed a really cute little boy, with thick brown hair and beautiful big hazel eyes. He was sitting on the floor ripping off the brightly coloured paper from one of his gifts and looked so sweet as he excitedly began to examine what was inside. It turned out to be a book on Egypt, which was quite large and seemed to her to be a rather unusual gift for such a small child. However, his face was full of joy as he flipped through the pages, stopping every few seconds to examine a particular page in more detail. Although the boy had lots of other presents of various shapes and sizes, he completely ignored those, obviously, preferring that book to anything else he'd been given. Sydney was fascinated by him but then she suddenly caught sight of Preston who was looking at the same little boy with a very sad expression on his face. Noticing that he repeatedly looked at the child and then at Nigel, Sydney realised that the little boy must have stirred up some sad and distant memory of Nigel as a child, because Preston looked really depressed!

"Are you OK Preston?" Sydney asked, believing he needed a friend.

"Um….oh yes isn't it wonderful… oh to be young again" he said, putting on an obviously fake smile and quickly looking away.

"Oh my goodness Preston! Look it's Santa!" Sydney said excitedly at the top of her voice, as a chubby white bearded man, in a red suit, walked onto the stage saying "ho ho ho". Every guest; including the adults, were then asked to come up onto the stage, one by one, to receive a gift from Santa. Sydney, like all of the women there, was given a very pretty jewellery box and Preston and Nigel both received silver cufflinks, which they actually liked!

After Santa left, all of the guests sat down and took part in a general knowledge quiz, which was a lot of fun for everyone. Nigel, having such an amazing memory, won first prize, which was the equivalent of £500 and with only three points in it, Preston was second. A French businessman and Sydney were joint third, although nobody really cared who'd won, as most of the guests at the hotel were very wealthy, so the prize money meant nothing to them. Nigel, on the other hand, even though he wasn't wealthy, put his winnings in a charity box, which greatly impressed Preston, who then put the equivalent of £300 in the box as well. Not to be left out, Sydney donated her winnings of approximately $90, plus whatever else she had in her purse at that moment, even though it was costing her a fortune to stay at the Copacabana! She assumed, of course, she'd be paying for Nigel as well, as she realised he'd not be able to afford such luxury, regardless of winning that money, which he'd so generously given away! Preston, being the proud man he was, paid his hotel bill up front the minute he knew it was a holiday, not a hunt, which was before he and Nigel made up; otherwise he might have thought to pay his too.

There were plenty of other activities to take part in throughout the day, such as dancing, carol singing and more quizzes; plus there was a mountain of food and drink. Nigel, who was feeling extremely happy and a little more confident, having had a few beers, went into one of the large rooms to watch a variety show. It was extremely entertaining and having not seen a show like this since he was 11, he rather enjoyed it. Of course, he and Sydney had actually taken part in a magic show with a friend of Sydney's, Rex Rolands, a few years ago, but Nigel much preferred just watching it.

While Nigel was watching the show, Sydney and Preston went into the bar for a drink; it being so much quieter in there with no children around. Sydney had been mulling over Preston's reaction to that little boy who, obviously, reminded him of Nigel as a child and wondered why Preston had looked so sad "What was Nigel like as a child Preston? I bet he was cute!" she said, hoping she wouldn't upset him with that question.

"Oh he was very cute; in fact, if you want to see some pictures of him back then, he has a photograph album upstairs; I brought it with me from home" Preston said, suddenly realising how odd that must sound.

"Really, that would be…well great….why did you bring the album to Brazil? You thought we were going on a hunt didn't you?" Sydney said, feeling very curious about that.

"Well….I um…. suppose it was because I really did want to make things right between me and Nigel and if we were in the jungle, or goodness knows where, I thought I could give him that for Christmas…you know, if we were on speaking terms" he said, looking a little embarrassed.

"Oh Preston, that's so thoughtful of you…..I'm so glad I managed to get you to come! When Nigel and I were on the plane flying here I was so hoping my little ploy would work and I'm absolutely delighted you and Nigel are so close again. I genuinely think Nigel needs you as much now as he did when he was a little boy" Sydney said, smiling at Preston, who seemed to have gone very distant again. "So you were telling me about Nigel…what do you remember about him from your childhood?"

"Oh….well… I um…well …I suppose the thing I remember the most was that he was premature and mother spent a few months at the hospital with him before he was strong enough to come home. I hardly saw her or father at all back then, except on the odd occasion when father took me to the hospital to see mother and Nigel. Of course, Nigel was fine in the end; he screamed louder than any of the other babies in the hospital; that's for sure! Then when he eventually came home mother and father watched him constantly for almost a year and even had his cot moved into their room. I remember thinking how odd that was, as they'd turned my old bedroom into an amazing nursery for him" Preston said, laughing a little, but secretly remembering how jealous he'd been at the time.

"That must have been difficult for your parents; and for you too…. as you must have felt a bit left out" Sydney said, realising immediately she'd hit on something there, but said nothing more.

"Yes, you're quite right there, but I got over it when Nigel started paying attention to me. He always wanted my books and at first I refused, thinking he'd damage them. Eventually though, when I realised he was actually quite careful, I'd let him sit on the sofa with me and look at the pictures. He'd actually sit with anyone, including our parents, Mrs Jackson, our cook, cleaner or gardener, if he thought they'd read to him, or teach him to read. He was book mad! Mother was even forced to move the books off the lower shelves in the drawing room once he started crawling, as he pulled them off a couple of times…. the second time the corner of an encyclopaedia hit him and gave him a black eye! You know he could actually read by the time he was three!" Preston said, wondering if he should really be telling Sydney all of this, as Nigel might be embarrassed.

"Forever the bookworm; aye Preston!" Sydney laughed "That's really amazing though; I couldn't read until I was at least five!"

"Me too; it was really strange when he was so tiny and would read the Financial Times! It didn't seem possible he could do that, but he certainly could, even if he didn't understand much of it! He soon overtook me at school and even children older than me, but they were so cruel to him because he was so clever. I well… I didn't help him much… I suppose I didn't want to be ostracised too" Preston said, looking quite miserable as he obviously regretted it.

"So didn't he do anything else but read?" I know he's a genius, but surely he liked toys.

"Oh yes, he did….. he had few toy soldiers and a Thomas the Tank Engine train, although he rarely played with them. What he really liked was his St Gabriel figure and his little wooden sword. Father used to tell him stories about St Gabriel and they'd pretend to fight some sort of demon with the sword; Podge loved it. He liked football and cricket too, but he didn't play, or watch, either very much, he was always studying" Preston said, suddenly looking a little distracted.

"Hey…. you know Nigel told me about your dad reading those stories and playing that game; it was when we were in Hungary on a relic hunt" Sydney said, as she recalled Nigel acting out part of one of the stories as they made their way along the road; Nigel pretending to plunge an invisible sword into a passer-by!

Preston looked at her, brushed his fingers through his hair; just like Nigel did at times and said "I should have taken better care of him you know, it wasn't easy for him being such a clever little chap, especially when he'd no friends; I should have protected him when he was at school, but I didn't." Preston looking into the bottom of his empty whiskey glass…. "do you want another drink, Sydney?"

"Oh… yes ah…. just a coke though" she said, surprised by that last comment "Preston it's no good thinking about what you should and shouldn't have done in the past, you were just a child yourself, remember! You can't change anything, but it's obvious Nigel's not holding a grudge anymore; so try to let it go. Nigel loves you; no matter what you did, or didn't do, when he was a child."

"I suppose you're right Sydney but….if only I'd….no… no….you're right….I have to try and let it go; recalling my mistakes won't change anything" Preston said, hoping he'd be able to do that. He ordered another couple of drinks, which he drank rather quickly and then rushed off to the bathroom!

Sydney thought about what Preston's relationship with Nigel must have actually been like; particularly as he was regretting it so much now. She recalled herself, when Nigel first started working for her, how surprised she'd been by his amazing intelligence and his uncanny ability to instantly recall things. Listening to Preston describe his younger brother being so brilliant, made her realise that, had she not been the strong minded confident woman she was, and had Nigel been physically stronger, she might have considered him a rival too! Preston was, obviously, extremely intelligent too, but she realised now he wasn't the self-confident person he'd pretended to be when the three of them went relic hunting!

Having had that discussion with Preston it was much clearer now where some of the animosity Preston had felt towards Nigel, had started, as it must have been extremely difficult for Preston, when Nigel was such a prodigy, not feel second best. However, she still felt there was something Preston was completely avoiding telling her, but not wishing to make him feel even more uncomfortable, and thinking it best to try and forget the past, she left it at that.

Apart from Preston being a little glum a times, it was a brilliant Christmas day and when they all met up to sing carols around the tree in the evening, Sydney, Nigel and Preston hugged each other tightly and felt truly happy.

26th Dec

On Boxing Day Sydney did very little but eat, drink and sit outside in the sunshine. Nigel, unfortunately, got a stomach upset during the afternoon, probably because he ate too much rich food, and had to go to bed. Preston fussed over him like a mother hen, which Sydney thought was quite funny, as Nigel wasn't used to that at all. He felt a lot better by the evening, although he didn't eat dinner, not wanting to suffer anymore discomfort and felt really happy as his secret wish to reconcile with his big brother had come true.

**In the next chapter you will find out the shocking secret that Preston and Nigel never wanted to reveal or discuss.**


	6. Chapter 6

**NEW CHAPTER 6**

27th Dec

The following day Nigel was completely recovered and as it was a lot cooler he decided to put on his relic hunting jacket over the top of his shirt. This jacket had lots of pockets, not only on the outside, but the inside too. They were really handy for carrying his wallet, cell phone, torch and other bits and bobs, particularly Sydney's unmentionables when she'd no room in her bag!

Bearing in mind both brothers had originally thought this was a relic hunting trip, they'd only really brought the most essential items with them. Of course, they could get their clothes laundered at the hotel, but as they were staying in such a prestigious place, they were generally expected to dress for dinner, although it wasn't compulsory. They'd purchased few necessities, like their swimming trunks and extra toiletries, when they'd been Christmas shopping and Nigel now had some new shirts and tee-shirts. However, he desperately needed some trousers and extra underwear, although Preston needed almost everything, including some more tee-shirts, something he'd actually never worn before, but found rather comfortable in such a hot country. Sydney, of course, had been fully aware that this was just a holiday, but she couldn't very well bring a large suit case with her when she was pretending it was a hunt!

Although she hated dresses, she decided she'd buy a couple, as the brothers persuaded her she looked so lovely in the one she wore on Christmas day. However, when she asked them to help her choose them, Nigel, having gone through that experience once before in Grease, when they were looking for the golden twine in the Minotaur's maze, suddenly needed the bathroom and Preston got stuck with the job! Nigel just hung around the general area while they were shopping and read a little book he had with him.

Once they'd finished purchasing Sydney's dresses, which was actually easier than Preston thought, having seen Nigel's reaction, they began looking around one of the huge department stores for other things they needed. Sydney soon found some really great looking tailored trousers and several new blouses and tops, which was really all she needed, apart from some underwear which she went off to purchase alone.

Having made arrangements to meet up with her a little later, Preston had no problem at all finding everything he needed, although it was more difficult for Nigel who, once again, couldn't afford what he liked. Realising his brother was having the same problem as before; Preston once again, picked up all of the items that his brother seemed to like, but had put back when he saw the price tag, and handed them to him.

"Preston, that's very nice of you but I'm perfectly capable of buying my own clothes! I'm not your responsibility anymore, I'm over 21!" Nigel said in a rather annoyed tone, hoping his brother didn't think he was being ungrateful.

"Podge, I want you to have those things, I've already explained why! You may not think you're my responsibility anymore but actually, you are! Mother and father wrote in their Wills that you should be taken care of financially until you receive your inheritance at 25… and that's another five months!...Podge I could see how much you like those things and you most certainly shouldn't have to wear those cheap and uncomfortable clothes that you picked out; you're a Bailey for goodness sake!" Preston said, noticing Nigel looked completely bewildered.

"Pres, I…I'll pay you back in May, alright…in fact….. I'll pay you back for everything then; including my Oxford fees that I've owed you for so long" Nigel said, realising his brother was being sincere and that the only reason he hadn't purchased clothes, or anything else for him since he'd been in America, was because he'd never swallowed his pride enough to ask! Of course, he did receive a small monthly allowance; which was sent to him by the family lawyer, otherwise all he had to live on was his relatively small Trinity salary.

"We'll see Podge…we'll see…. now….. do you need anything else?" Preston asked, looking quite stern to ensure that Nigel spoke up if he did.

"No, Pres, that's everything…..and….thanks….I appreciate it" Nigel said, looking a little embarrassed.

"You're welcome Podge…..now, where's Sydney, she said she'd meet us here and she's late….. we talked about going to the flea market at the back of the mall at noon; they might have some antiques that would look nice in the house.

"She's probably just got held up, or she's already made her way there!" Nigel said "she loves looking for 'treasures' in those places."

They walked out of the store and immediately bumped into Sydney who was carrying a bag which was stuffed full of what looked like relic hunting clothes and another containing her pretty flowery dresses.

"Do you want to have a look around the flea market, or are you all shopped out now Syd?" Nigel asked, taking hold of her bags.

"Oh market please!" she said, smiling and walking towards the door that led there.

Having looked around for a short time Preston managed to find an antique Inkstand which he and Nigel both thought would look great on their late father's oak desk. They were delighted to find it as it was almost identical to one that their father once had. Unfortunately, that one was accidentally broken by a French polisher who Preston employed to restore the desk.

Once they'd finished their shopping they had lunch in a lovely little restaurant where they served amazing seafood and steaks. By late afternoon they were ready to head back to the hotel, desperately in need of shower as the stiflingly hot weather had returned.

They were not far from the hotel when they noticed a sign outside a large park which Nigel translated from Portuguese into English "Police Charity Concert tonight at 7 p.m. tickets can be purchased at the gate, or from Colonel Carlos Rodriguez at the police station, 102 Copacabana Avenue."

"Do you guys fancy going?" Sydney asked, as she looked over the fence that surrounded the park and noticed a large open area where they were assembling a temporary stage and some seating.

"I'd like to go Syd" Nigel replied, looking at the sign and then at Preston, who was looking a little sceptical "It'll be fun, Pres… go on, come with us."

"Yes alright, it might be a rather enjoyable evening and it's not far from the hotel, so we'll be able to walk" Preston said, hoping it wouldn't be one of those noisy and rather unprofessional affairs that he hated so much.

Once they'd made their decision to attend the concert they decided they'd purchase their tickets at the gate, rather than traipsing all the way to the police station, which was at least a fifteen minute walk from the park.

Making their way back to the hotel the brothers began to have a light-hearted argument about Henry VIII. They were both very knowledgeable about the Kings of England, which came in handy on a hunt a couple of years earlier when they looked for Ann Boleyn's ring. Sydney was feeling wonderful, as she loved seeing Nigel so happy and furthermore, they still had another six days left in Rio!

Around the corner from the park was a very busy street, which was full of shoppers, teenagers and local people who were pushing and shoving to try and grab some after Christmas bargains. Trying to dodge the crowds, they were about to turn the corner when Nigel suddenly stopped, went as white as a sheet, squeezed Preston's hand very tightly and stuttered "Pres! It…. it's…. Pres!"

Preston looked at Nigel and immediately realised something was very wrong, as there was a look of horror on his little brother's face and he was beginning to hyperventilate! Preston caught hold of him as his legs began to give way and he dropped the bags.

"What's the matter Podge!? What's wrong!? Sydney! Come back!" Preston shouted, in a complete panic. Sydney immediately rushed back and caught hold of Nigel under his arm and around his back. He could barely speak and his eyes were fixed on the people standing outside the Post Office.

"It…it's her P…Pres, that… that…. woman!" Nigel stuttered; his face showing just how petrified he really was "she….she took me Pres, it was her!"

"Podge, what do you mean!? Who….who took you!?" Preston asked, trying to make sense of it.

"H..her!" Nigel cried, pointing to the queue of people about twenty feet away from them.

Sydney was just as confused as Preston and looked hard to see if she could recognise anyone in the general direction Nigel was staring; but she just couldn't. Preston looked too, but everyone there was a complete stranger to him as well.

"Who is it Podge? Who do you mean?" Preston asked again, just as Nigel fainted and people began stepping over him and kicking the bags.

Sydney and Preston pulled him away from the edge of the pavement, so that he wouldn't get trampled on and then knelt on the ground to try and bring him around. A few people stopped to stare but, believing he was probably just drunk, they soon moved along!

As Sydney gently tapped his face, he became semi-conscious again quite quickly, but looked so pale and disorientated.

"Who is it Nige? Tell me what she did and I'll confront her" Sydney said, helping Preston lift him up a little.

Preston got as close to Nigel's mouth as possible to help him hear what his brother was trying to say "pur….purple face" he said, holding on to Preston's arm and limply pointing at the people queuing outside the Post Office again.

"He's saying, purple face….I think" Preston said, looking up at Sydney feeling very confused.

Sydney looked at the people in the queue and noticed that one woman, who appeared to be in her late fifties, had a large purple birthmark on the side of her face. Realising that must be who Nigel meant, she considered what to do. She couldn't just go over, all guns blazing, when she'd no idea what the woman had done to frightened him so badly.

"Preston, take Nigel back to the hotel, he's not going to be able to tell us anything until he calms down. That woman over there with that facial blemish must be who he's referring to" she said, indicating with a nod of her head "I'll follow her to see if I can find out where she lives then, if need be, we'll be able to find her again; there're plenty of cabs around so if she has a car, I'll follow in one of them." Sydney watched the woman for several minutes and secretly took photos of her and some of the people close by, having noticed her talking to them. Immediately the woman started moving away, Sydney followed her, thinking how odd this was, as neither she, nor Preston, had seen her do anything at all to Nigel.

Preston carried Nigel some of the way back to the hotel but, at Nigel's insistence, he put him down some 50 feet or so away from the hotel entrance. However, he still held Nigel around his back as they entered the hotel lobby, where they were greeted by two porters who looked rather concerned. One of them immediately helped Preston with Nigel, while the other took their bags into the lift and led them back to their room.

Having put Nigel on top of the bed Preston took out his wallet "thank you so much for your help gentlemen, my brother will be fine once he's rested and cooled down" he said, handing the porters a large tip.

"I'll get you some water Podge, then you can tell me what this is all about" Preston said, hurrying to the mini bar. He handed Nigel a bottle, hoping the ice cold water would calm him down and help him speak more clearly. However, he was still shaking so badly he immediately dropped it, spilling a little on the bed. Realising Nigel needed some help, Preston held the bottle to his lips, tilted his head back and let him swallow very slowly to prevent him from choking.

Having placed the bottle on the bedside cabinet Preston gently stroked Nigel's head "Podge; who was she? I didn't see her, or anyone else do anything to you…. so what happened?... Come on….you're safe now" he said, very calmly, not wishing to cause his brother any further distress.

Nigel gave a quick look around him as if to make absolutely certain the woman wasn't there and then looked up at his brother "Pr.. Pres, sh…she's one...one of the ki…..kidnappers!" Nigel said, tears pooling in his eyes.

"What do you mean kidnappers!?"

"W…when I… w…was a boy Pres….th…those!"

"Podge…don't be silly, she can't be!" Preston replied; feeling quite shocked but believing Nigel was possibly suffering from heat stroke.

"She was Preston! I know it was her! I saw that purple mark on her face every day for two weeks! I'll never forget it! Never!" Nigel yelled, sitting up to face his brother, tears falling down his cheeks.

"Podge you have to be mistaken" Preston said, wiping Nigel's tears away with the back of his hand.

"It was her Preston, it was!" Nigel cried, taking hold of his brother's hand "she was one of the beasts who kidnapped me!….. They hurt me Preston, they hurt me! You have to send her to prison!"

"OK… OK, just calm down and think logically….now Podge….what are the chances of running into one of your kidnappers 18 years later? All of the people who took you back then would've aged a lot over the years; it's unlikely you'd recognise any of them."

"It was her! I saw her face!"

"OK…Podge, take a deep breath and listen…. that woman may have a similar birthmark, but that doesn't mean it's her; that kind of facial blemish is quite common…..besides…this is Brazil! All that happened in England!" Preston said, trying to reason with Nigel.

"Pres, I'd remember her face if it happened a hundred years ago, I know it was her! The police never caught her… or any of those beasts who took me! Mum and dad paid them a five million pounds ransom….. and they got away with it!" Nigel said, looking hard into his brother's eyes to try and convince him "Pres….. l…lots of criminals ca….came to Brazil before their ex….extradition laws were changed. They have a Tr….Treaty with England now…. but they didn't back then!"

"Alright Podge, let's see what Sydney finds out, just try and rest now" Preston said; walking to the bathroom to rinse his face. Looking in the mirror he stared at his reflection for a few seconds, then suddenly a horrendous thought crossed his mind, what if Nigel's right, what if that woman really is one of those kidnappers! Wondering whether to ask Nigel anything more, he came back into the bedroom and saw his brother curled up on the bed with his back to him. Deciding, therefore, to say nothing, he sat down in an armchair opposite the bed and began to think.

His mind began drifting back to that terrible time, in 1985, when his tiny six year old brother completely disappeared. He was only 13 himself when it happened, but the memory of that day had haunted him ever since.

He recalled, with great sadness, a few hours after the kidnappers had snatched his little brother how his distressed father took the first telephone call from those monstrous men. The look of horror on his father's face was awful, but he saw that look a lot more in the days that followed as his father and mother, being secretly guided by the police, negotiated to try and prevent Nigel from being hurt. While the banks did their best accumulate enough cash for the ransom, he recollected hearing his parents providing the police with vital information in the hope they'd be able to locate Nigel before any exchange date was set. However, that was not to be as some two weeks after Nigel was abducted his parents were forced to hand over a five million pounds ransom, only to discover that the police had made some costly mistakes! Those mistakes enabled the evil kidnappers to escape with the money, but not only that; Nigel was not returned! He could still see, in his mind's eye, the doctor injecting his mother with something to knock her out when she'd been told Nigel had not been released.

His mind then wandered back to the day after the exchange should have taken place and the look of joy on his father's face when the police confirmed that Nigel had been found. He recalled how his mother, who was still mildly sedated, cried with relief when she received that news, but then cried with despair when it was revealed how seriously ill Nigel was. He'd later been told that his little brother had been found in a muddy field, wandering around completely naked, covered in dirt and blood and was virtually catatonic. His mother, he recalled, stayed in hospital with Nigel for a month after that, trying to make him feel secure and loved again, as he'd been so traumatised by the horrific ordeal, he'd not allow anyone but her to touch him.

Preston also remembered the call he'd received from his father, three weeks after that, telling him how Nigel had, at last, sat on his lap and cuddled him. He'd sounded so happy for a moment and then so sad again as he explained how Nigel would need time for his fragile little body to heal.

When Nigel finally returned home he remembered how irritated he was that his little brother would only speak to their parents and completely ignored him. The problem was his parents kept the details of Nigel's physical injuries a secret from him at the time, believing they were too horrendous for a boy of his age to know about. Because of that he'd not been as caring as he would have been had he known the truth from the start. The fact was, when he was eventually given the details, he felt terribly guilty about his irritation with Nigel and the fact that he'd been so jealous of his brother getting so much attention from his parents.

Just as those thoughts were running through his mind he was suddenly jolted back to the present when Sydney knocked sharply on the door. He let her in and they both looked at the bed where Nigel was now curled up in the foetal position.

"How is he?" she asked, very quietly but looking quite worried.

"He's resting, he seems alright though" Preston said, looking down at the ground, trying to shake off those horrible thoughts he'd just had.

"I followed that woman, she was actually with a couple of guys" Sydney said, almost in whisper, in case Nigel was asleep. "It looks like she lives just a couple of blocks from here… in a huge mansion. She positively marched through the front gate, so I'm pretty sure she lives there and wasn't just visiting…. she's definitely not one of the servants as she viciously threw her shopping bags at some men who came out to help her and they looked very intimidated indeed! The guys who were with her kind of acted like bodyguards; in fact, I had a hard time following them without being seen. Did Nigel tell you what it's about?" she asked, looking very concerned, as Nigel hadn't moved since she entered the room.

Preston realised that, although Nigel never wanted her to hear about what happened to him, he'd have to tell her now or she'd never let it go. He motioned her to the bathroom so that Nigel wouldn't overhear them and explained briefly what his brother had said. After reeling in shock at hearing only the basic details of the kidnapping, Sydney, like Preston, found it rather hard to believe that Nigel could still recognise that woman. Of course, she realised he was very observant and rarely forgot anything of importance, except perhaps, when under too much pressure, but this kind of memory just seemed a little bit unlikely.

"Did the kidnappers hurt him?" she asked, realising by Nigel's reaction in the street the answer must be yes.

Preston explained the condition Nigel was in when he was found in the field, but then remembered a couple of other appalling facts that his father had told him a few years later "Sydney the brutes burnt his feet with cigarettes and once Nigel was able to make himself understood, which was about a month after he was returned, he told father that he'd been put in a bath of freezing cold water and locked in a dark cupboard!"

Sydney was horrified, she'd realised by Nigel's past behaviour that something traumatic must have happened when he was younger, but she never dreamed it was anything like this!

"The thing is Sydney, the doctors told our parents that he'd been um… ra…raped too, but Nigel's never mentioned that. The doctors believe it was far too horrendous for him; so he um… simply blocked it out."

"My God Preston, no wonder he hates strangers touching him, or being naked around people" she said, her heart skipping a beat as she blinked back the tears and continued listen to Preston.

"That disgusting assault caused him excruciating pain and made his natural bodily functions so painful he um…. had to have a….um….. temporary…co…colostomy bag, for his bodily waste….that um enabled his internal parts to heal where he'd been….you know. He still doesn't remember the assault to this day, which I suppose is good really; I think it would be extremely traumatic for him now if he suddenly remembered it" Preston said, taking hold of a wash cloth and sitting down on the edge of the bath.

"Preston…I...I don't know what to say… but I can tell you this; if I find those people at the mansion had anything to do with that…. I'll kill them!... Are you OK Preston!?" Sydney asked, bending down to him as she noticed he'd gone very pale, although she felt just as bad.

"Y..yes…I'm fine….it's just…just so awful what those beasts did! My father told me that Nigel had to have psychiatric help early on, but he was so young it did no good. Mother, father and Mrs Jackson decided to take over by using information from the psychiatrist and he responded much better without having strangers around. He had tutors at home too for about a year; but they were from his school, so he knew them and they taught him in their spare time. He was, apparently, frightened of just about everyone and everything….well if it was new to him anyway. I'm not sure how long it took him to start functioning as a normal little boy; but it was a long time. I wish I'd been told and understood what he'd been through from the start; I'd have tried to help him, I just thought he didn't want to know me anymore" Preston said, obviously still feeling pangs of guilt.

"That's so sad Preston….I've seen how you are with him now, so I'm sure you'd have been brilliant if you'd known. Don't beat yourself up about it…you were just a child yourself at the time" Sydney said, taking the face cloth off him and running it under the tap "wipe your face and let's go and see how Nigel's doing."

Sydney gently shook Nigel, suddenly feeling quite desperate to find out if that woman really was one of the brutes who'd hurt him all those years ago "Nige; please try and sit up? You need to look at these photos" she said, as he slowly pulled himself up. She handed him his glasses and held her digital camera up to his face "look closely Nige…. tell me…..are you absolutely certain she's the woman who um…hurt you?"

Believing Preston had probably told her what happened to him, he hated the idea of discussing it with Sydney. However, he was more troubled at that moment by the thought of looking at the photos. Of course, he knew he had to, because one way or another, he was determined to have that monstrous woman and hopefully the rest of those sadistic criminals, punished for the suffering they'd put him through.

**PLEASE REVIEW**

**In the next chapter find out if Nigel was correct about that woman and what other horrors they discovered!**


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

Nigel looked at the photo that Sydney held in front of him and his heart skipped a beat!

"It's her Syd! It's her!" he screamed, starting to hyperventilate again.

"Nigel, sweetie, please try to calm down ….look really closely….are you absolutely sure?" she asked, slowly clicking through the photos on the camera.

"Yes Syd, yes! It's definitely her!... Oh...oh my God, th….that's one of the men too!" he screamed; his eyes fixed on the camera screen showing a group of people.

Sydney, put her arms around him and rubbed his back "breathe sweetie" she said, feeling the need to be unusually affectionate, realising he needed it and that he must be correct, as he'd now identified two of his disgusting captors without the slighted hesitation.

"Nigel, how many kidnappers were there?" she asked, trying to think what to do about the disturbing situation.

Forcing himself to be brave he sat up straight "I...I remember seeing five, but there could have been more, I think some of them were, I don't know, maybe German; possibly ..Ru….Russian. I could only speak a little French and Spanish back then Syd.

Sydney thought about that for a minute and a shiver ran down her spine "Preston, we need to get inside that house to have a good look around!"

"That's madness, Sydney! Shouldn't we go to the police!?" Preston asked, believing that was more sensible.

"Look guys, I just want to know if those monsters just came here to retire on the proceeds of Nigel's ransom, or if there's more to it than that. The thing is…. I really don't think the police will take you seriously Nige….. but they'll still feel obliged to check out your story. Of course, once they do that the crooks will, naturally, deny everything, but they'll have been alerted to what we know and probably disappear! Look, it's quite likely they're still involved in criminal activities….that woman certainly seemed like an evil creature and the lifestyle they lead would have cost more than 5 million pounds over the past 18 years! What we need to do is find something incriminating against them from recent times, then we can take that to the police. Obviously, once they're behind bars we can tell them everything" Sydney said, understanding why Preston was so concerned.

"What if they've become law abiding citizens now and we can't find anything against them?" Preston asked, becoming a little agitated.

"Oh we'll find something….you don't go from doing things like kidnapping to becoming complete innocents….they're funding their lifestyle somehow" Sydney said, trying to convince Preston of the necessity to search the house.

"But they might have made money from lots of kidnappings, years ago, not just Nigel's! They might not have needed more money!" Preston said, trying to be very persuasive.

"Preston…..people like that are never satisfied! They're criminals…we'll find something!" Sydney said, truly believing she was right.

"OK, OK….. but how are we going to get in? We know they have guards, but they'll probably have dogs too!" Preston said, suddenly remembering how they'd all gotten into Leeds Castle a couple of years ago.

"Look, they don't have dogs; I checked" Sydney said, very forcefully "Nigel was so scared of that woman, I wanted to know what I'd have to face if I went back."

"Are you sure?" Preston asked, looking very unconvinced.

"Yes, Preston, as I said .… I checked! I spoke to the man at the gate….I did! I pretended I was lost and while we were chatting I asked if anyone in the area had any dogs; I just pretended I'd heard them barking. He said he knew of no one in the area who had any, not even the owners of the mansion. He also said he was seventy years old and a bit deaf Preston, so he's nothing to worry about. Of course they've got other security, I saw some really tough looking guys in suits and sunglasses roaming around the grounds; so we'll have to keep a look out for them. Look, I just want to sneak in and have a look around for something incriminating; it doesn't matter what, just something to interest the cops and then we'll get the hell out of there!" she said, believing Preston would feel better about it now.

Preston put his arm around Nigel and just sat there holding him for a few minutes thinking about what Sydney had said "alright…. you have a point Sydney, but Nigel's staying here!" he said, squeezing his brother's arm.

"No I'm not! I'm coming!" Nigel shouted, shaking Preston's hand off "I have a right to be there, this is because of me, not you…..I'm coming!"

Both Sydney and Preston were stunned by Nigel's sudden outburst, especially considering how terrified he was "I could stop you Nigel" Sydney said "but I won't…..you do have a right to be there and besides…..you're the only one who could recognise more of your abductors!" Preston looked utterly horrified! "Look, Preston…. he's actually far more capable than you think, he's extremely resourceful and great at spotting things that….well…. just don't look right….it'll be good to have an extra pair of eyes like his, you'll see."

"Preston please" Nigel said "I don't want us to argue…. but I have to see inside that house….even if I'm scared to death!"

"Promise you'll be careful?" Preston said, half smiling at Nigel.

"I promise Pres" Nigel replied, looking very frightened yet very determined!

"Anyway, look guys, we can't do anything on an empty stomach, so let's go and have an early dinner and formulate a plan?" Sydney said, handing Nigel his relic hunting jacket to enable them to leave immediately after dinner without having to return to his room for it.

The brothers followed Sydney down to the dining room, both feeling rather anxious about what kind of plan she might come up with and hoping it wouldn't be too crazy!

During dinner Sydney and Preston noticed that Nigel ate very little, although neither of them expected him to. He was, obviously, terrified about what they were intending to do but, of course, he wanted to ensure all of those heartless people, who he knew he could identify, were punished.

Sydney tried to think of a plan to get into the house without being seen, but her major concern was what would happen if they got caught as, obviously, they couldn't tell the truth!

"Look guys, if we're discovered inside the house, we need a really convincing reason for being there. The place is surrounded by a wall so we can't say we just wondered in by mistake…. so what do you think of this?" She took a deep breath "we say we're antiques thieves! You see if they're pretending to be law abiding citizens, then that'll ensure they call the police and they won't be suspicious about us snooping around. Of course, once we're at the police station we can tell the truth about everything….even if they don't believe us, we'll at least be safe and we can get Trinity to vouch for us" she said, hoping it wouldn't come to that.

"Good heavens Sydney! Don't you think men like that might kill us for stealing from them!?" Preston asked, looking quite shocked.

"I doubt they'd want that kind of trouble…it's not easy to dispose of a body, never mind three and they'd have to wonder if there were any witnesses who saw us entering the property, or whether we'd told anyone where we were going.….no they won't kill us…..although they might try beating us up and throwing us out… but it's more likely they'll call the police. We won't actually be stealing anything anyway; not really, we'll mostly be taking photos….look if we're careful we won't get caught, OK!?"

Both Preston and Nigel thought about it for a moment and considered it was actually a good idea. However, Nigel was beginning to fret about what would happen if he came face to face with his actual abductors. Forgetting how good his memory was compared to most others, he worried that because he'd recognised them, they might recognise him! Sydney, of course, believed that was very unlikely. However, she didn't want him thinking about that, as she needed him to stay focused on getting in and out of the house safely. She, therefore, came up with the idea that if they got caught, he should use a different name, as she did consider it was possible they might recognise that!

After a couple of minutes of tossing names around, the best they came up with was Ian Worthingham. The real Ian was dead now but he'd once been a criminal who stole relics and was the spitting image of Nigel!

Trying to ensure that Nigel was totally believable as Ian, Sydney insisted that he leaves his credit card and anything else that would identify him as Nigel Bailey in the safe behind the reception desk. Then, just to add credibility, she popped a note in his pocket addressed to 'Ian', to remind him to pick up a bottle of wine for the party!

Not wishing to complicate matters further, she explained that she thought it best if she and Preston use their real names, although she naturally hoped the thugs had never heard of her! Of course, if they have, and they happen to get caught, she reasoned she could always pretend she wasn't as honest as she seemed! Nigel, however, was still a little nervous about Preston being a Bailey and wondered if the kidnappers might remember his name and then recognise them as the Bailey brothers from years ago!

Having shared his concerns with Sydney, she gave it little thought, especially as he was supposed to be Ian Worthingham! However, because she wanted to make him feel better, she told him he could always say Preston was perhaps, his step brother, then he'd have no blood ties with the name Bailey, but their brotherly affection in a stressful situation would seem normal. She didn't for one instant think that the people in that house would ask, or care, how any of them were related, but she wanted to stop Nigel fretting about it.

After dinner Sydney began to wonder whether she might be better off checking the house alone, because Nigel was just so on edge and Preston wasn't much better. Of course, both brothers adamantly refused to let her do that, regardless of how anxious they were; as by the time Sydney had finished explaining things, the plan to enter the grounds and house, seemed quite achievable.

Before setting off, they all hugged each other and hoped they'd manage to get in and out of the house without being detected. What they'd do after that would, of course, depend on what, if anything, they found.

Sydney led the way to the large and extremely impressive house, which had high walls surrounding the entire property, and stunningly beautiful gardens.

Unfortunately, she immediately noticed there was a different man at the gate, who was much younger than the gateman she'd met earlier and looked really huge! Realising they'd never get past him undetected, she asked the brothers to stay hidden for a while and rushed off!

About fifteen minutes later she came back carrying a thick rope with a large hook on the end and explained she'd removed it from some scaffolding on a nearby building site! Having checked for surveillance cameras and noticing there were none; she looked for the most inconspicuous part of the wall, threw the hook over it and climbed to the top. Preston was next to climb up, with a little help from Sydney and then Nigel who, to save time, was told to simply hold onto the rope while he was hoisted up by his brother and boss!

Once they were all on the ground, Sydney hid the rope and gave Nigel a reassuring look; just before they started to make their way to the house.

Keeping very low and dodging the security men, they ran along the edge of the lawn and leapt over some flower beds. Having helped Preston and Nigel, who'd both tripped over a stone birdbath, Sydney hauled Nigel across a large paved area and hoped that Preston would follow. He caught up pretty quickly and they soon found themselves stood about fifty feet away from the beautiful mansion. Hiding behind a huge tree, they ducked down and then, as quickly as possible, moved from tree to tree, gradually getting closer to the building.

Once they'd reached it they made their way to some beautiful French doors, which had been propped open to let in what little fresh air there was. Sydney carefully popped her head inside to ensure that the room was empty and then indicated to the brothers to follow her.

The room turned out to be a library where, at one end, was a very large wooden desk, which Sydney immediately searched. At first she found nothing of significance, but upon further inspection she discovered $150 in counterfeit money! Luckily she had a friend, who was a private investigator, who'd explained to her how tell the difference between real and counterfeit notes; otherwise she might have missed that find! Thinking about whether or not to take it as evidence, she decided to take about $20, in various small denominations, with the hope it wouldn't be missed, at least not while they were still in the house anyway! However, as she quickly stuffed it inside her bra she couldn't help but wonder why they had American 'money' on the premises.

Nigel and Preston, having noticed what Sydney did with the cash, simply blushed and continued searching the rest of the library, which under other circumstances Nigel would have loved being in. As it was though, he was so nervous; he couldn't enjoy it at all, even when he discovered some first edition Dickens books that he'd loved as a child.

Having found the counterfeit money, Sydney felt that was proof enough that the people in this house were criminals, as she didn't believe anyone would have $150 hidden away, and not know it was counterfeit! However, just having fake money was not really enough to convict the beasts; they really needed something much more substantial.

Wondering what else they might find if they search a bit further, Sydney put her ear to some double oak doors which she believed must lead to the next room. Having listened carefully, she opened the doors very slowly and stepped into what she saw was an enormous sitting room. Nigel and Preston kept close behind her and were stunned by the grandeur of the room, which had four crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and some superb oil paintings on the walls. The entire room was furnished exquisitely, with four brown leather sofas and two huge oak sideboards, along with three glass fronted display cabinets. There were some beautiful vases inside the cabinets and on the sideboards too, some of which, for some reason, seemed familiar to Nigel. There was yet another huge and completely full, bookcase on the far wall, which made them think the residents of the house must be avid readers, having so many books on that and thousands in the library next door.

Having noticed nothing of significance at first, Sydney and Nigel began looking a little closer at the paintings, while Preston hurriedly looked through the drawers in the various pieces of furniture. He, unfortunately, found nothing but**, **having speedily examined only two of the paintings; the two relic hunters both believed they were stolen works of art! Having realised that, Nigel then remembered where he'd seen the vases before, it was on the news, about four years ago, when thieves stole several Ming vases from The National Museum of China, in Beijing!

Having taken several photos of the paintings, the vases and the room in general, they were about to return to the library to make their escape, when Sydney suddenly looked at the large bookcase again and whispered "Nige…look!" Moving a little closer to it she pointed to the fourth shelf down, where amongst the hundreds of beautifully bound books, was a very tatty one, right at the end. She gave Nigel one of her special looks, pulled the book towards her and, just as she'd suspected, the pulling action triggered a hidden mechanism within the shelves, opening up the bookcase to reveal a hidden room behind it!

Preston almost jumped out of his skin but managed not to yell as he grabbed hold of Nigel to protect him from whatever he imagined might happen! "It's OK Pres, we've found secret rooms like this before" Nigel whispered, wondering who was shaking more, him or his brother!

They listened very carefully to ensure they'd not disturbed anyone and then slowly crept inside, wondering what they'd find. To their utter astonishment, the place looked like a military war room, although it obviously wasn't!

Just behind the bookcase the first thing they noticed was a medium sized table completely full of cameras and associated equipment. Some of the lenses were so powerful it would have been possible to take photos from huge distances with clarity and precision.

Sydney looked at Nigel and could tell he was growing more uncomfortable as time moved on and, therefore, thought it best to let him just check out a few boxes that were stacked to the left of entrance, while she and Preston checked out the room.

As soon as they stepped further inside they noticed two white dry-erase boards, which had what appeared to be the floor plans of two large houses drawn on them. Upon further inspection they saw that on each plan a cross was placed on what looked like an entrance door and from that point a set of arrows led to a room, which was also marked with a cross. At first they believed the drawings were how the thugs planned the robberies they must have taken part in, if the content of the sitting room was anything to go by. However, once they'd moved to the next display, a horrible thought came into Sydney's mind as she saw a dozen or so large photographs of children pinned to the wall. Looking more closely at the images she was horrified to note that at the bottom of each one, written in pen, was a large amount of money, none of which was less than six million dollars! Her blood ran cold, as did Preston's, as they both realised at that moment, that these youngsters were kidnap victims, or soon would be! They certainly looked like the offspring of very wealthy parents from all corners of the globe, two of whom were twin boys, about five years old, while the others ranged from around seven, right up to their early teens.

Feeling rather sick they looked a little further where they noticed several charts which showed just how lucrative their kidnapping business was, as looking at the bottom line, the shocking truth was, they'd amassed a huge seventy million dollar fortune over the past two years!

Feeling quite furious Sydney turned away from the wall and randomly picked up some sheets of paper off a large table in the middle of the room. Examining the papers more closely, she was shocked to discover it was the details of a kidnapping in Japan! Her heart sank as she saw Preston pick up similar papers which revealed plans to kidnap an Indian baby, a British teenager and some Brazilian twins, perhaps the little boys in the photograph on the wall.

It was now definite that the people in this house, although they looked like wealthy but ordinary citizens, were actually international criminals who, 18 years after kidnapping Nigel, still preyed on innocent children from around the world, causing pain, suffering and misery to them and their prosperous families!

Nigel heard Sydney and Preston in the background discussing what they'd found, although that paled in comparison to what he'd discovered in a large box labelled 'Brats 1984 – 1986'! Having opened it very cautiously he saw that it contained the files of 10 kidnap victims, each one noting on the top cover the name and age of the child, how much ransom they'd received and, in graphic detail, how much misery they'd caused to the youngster while their parents kept them waiting for the money!

He nervously picked up the files one by one, trying to hold back the tears as he realised, having only dared to read the full cover of the first one, what those poor little things must have suffered. Being unable to continue any further he was just about to return the files to the box when, to his utter horror, he noticed the name on the next file said… 'Nigel Bailey' age six!

**Please review**** OR if writing a review is difficult for you, just click on one or two of the boxes; that will alert you to when I put up the next chapters and will let me know you are enjoying the story. **

**Many ****thanks to **ivoryrose75 - BrigetKelly1987 - Space-Case7029 - Abducted By Eon Of Chronia - Debasmita Sinha - - CellyLS and those readers who have clicked on favourite story, favourite author etc.

**In the next chapter they try to get out of the mansion safely, but things go horribly wrong, especially for Nigel!**


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

"No! No!" Nigel said, his voice almost inaudible, as he read the awful truth about what was done to him. His face turned white as snow, as he dropped the file on the floor and doubled over in shock. Sydney and Preston, having heard his pitiful cry, span around quickly and rushed to his side, realising something was terribly wrong. While Preston propped him up against the wall and tried to force him to breathe, Sydney gingerly picked up the file and began to read the front cover.

"Oh my God! Sweetheart!….I…I'm so sorry, I had no idea something like that would be in those boxes! What kind of brutes write down such things!" Sydney said, gently pulling Nigel away from Preston and into her arms. She embraced him tightly, tears uncharacteristically running down her face, as she rubbed his back and tried to hold him up.

Preston hesitantly took hold of the file and turned as white as his brother when he realised what Nigel had discovered "Syd…. Sydney we have to…have to… get him out of here… now! These people are despicable monsters! We have to get away before they discover we know their secrets!"

Sydney nodded, wiped her eyes and carefully passed Nigel back to his brother "Preston we can't just leave, we need to make this room look undisturbed...we don't want the beasts knowing we've been in here! If you can quickly do that, I'll finish getting the rest of the photos!" Sydney said, rushing towards the large table which she frantically ran around taking close up shots of all manner of documents. She then hesitantly picked up one piece of damning evidence and tucked it inside her bra, desperately hoping, once again, the brutes wouldn't miss it…. at least until they could get the police to the house anyway!

Having taken as many photos as she could in just a few minutes, she rushed back to the brothers where Nigel was now sat on a chair quietly sobbing his heart out and running his fingers through his hair. Realising how totally devastated he was, Sydney wanted to comfort him but there was simply no time. Preston, of course, hadn't wanted to leave him, but he had no choice, it was so important to try and restack the boxes, at least visually, as they were when they came in, although neither he nor Sydney knew exactly how that was, or in what order they'd been placed!

Anger filling her heart Sydney quickly removed the lid from one box labelled 'Brats 2001' and grabbed hold of some photos from inside. Stuffing them inside her bra again, she desperately hoped that the police could identify the children in the photos and use them as physical proof that the brutes in this house were kidnappers. Having done that, she replaced the lid, snapped a few photos of the entire room and looked worriedly at Preston who was staring at Nigel.

"Come on let's get out of here! We've enough to convict them now!" she whispered with great determination, noticing Nigel didn't move "Nigel sweetie, we have to leave now!"

The urgency in Sydney's voice didn't register at all with Nigel, as his brain was being bombarded with previously suppressed images and sounds that were so real it was like he was reliving them! He could clearly see the face of that despicable purple faced woman laughing at him as she tied his little arms to the headboard of a dirty bed and watched while he was violated. The memory of that brutal attack was so horrifically real at that moment; he wanted to curl up and die!

Realising his brother wasn't getting up, Preston quickly grabbed hold of him under his arms and pulled him up off the chair. However, it was instantly apparent that Nigel was not supporting himself, as his knees were buckling and he was staring into space! "Podge we have to go! Come on!" Preston said, as quietly as possible, shaking Nigel lightly to try and bring him back to reality.

Immediately noticing the problem, Sydney pulled Nigel away from his brother, leaned him against the wall and looked directly into his staring eyes "Nige! Those monsters have to be stopped; I can't do it alone, I need your help!"

Those heartfelt words seemed to reach him as his eyes rolled around a couple of times and he looked right at her "I hate them!" he said angrily, tears pooling in his eyes again.

"Shush! Yes…I know Nige….me too….that's why we have to leave!" she whispered, carefully letting him go and feeling him grab hold of her upper arms to steady himself "You OK?…..we have to get out of here quickly!"

"Ye…yes…I…I'm f…fine" Nigel said, very hesitantly, wiping his tears away with the back of his hand.

She smiled at him as he loosened his grip and watched as he very unsteadily stood unaided "Stay close Nigel" she said, hoping he'd be able to run when it became necessary!

Taking hold of Nigel's hand, Sydney led the way out, with Preston following close behind to keep an eye on his brother. Having opened the bookcase slightly they listened for a few seconds to ensure it was safe to leave and then cautiously crept back into the living room. However, luck was against them this time as they'd barely got past the centre of the room when, from out in the corridor, they heard a woman's voice and footsteps getting closer and closer! Realising that at any moment they could be apprehended, they dashed the rest of the way through the room and sped past the internal door leading into the library.

"Guys just remember what we planned to say if any of us get caught!" Sydney whispered, as they passed the desk where they'd found the fake money and gingerly approached the wide open French doors. They'd no sooner reached them and ducked behind the sumptuous curtains, when all hell broke loose, as alarms started ringing and men rushed past the doors wielding guns! There were a couple of other men outside too, pointing torches at bushes and trees, obviously in the hope of finding them.

Sydney wasn't one to panic, but having discovered the secrets inside this house, she was very anxious to get out of there, especially as she could now hear several other people running towards the library from inside the house!

Realising they had no choice, they dashed through the French doors and hid behind the nearest bush, which only minutes before those men had been shining torches at!

Just as they ducked of sight, a young woman and two men came rushing out of the library waving guns and looking left and right "I saw three of them running into the library, so I sounded the alarm in the living room immediately!" the woman said quite loudly "keep looking, I'm not taking the blame for this!"

As luck would have it, none the guards in the garden had seen them running from the library but they, obviously, knew they were there and were on high alert.

Hoping that the dark of night would be advantageous, they began to run towards the part of the wall they'd climbed over earlier. However, although the darkness helped keep them hidden, it made it difficult to see where they were stepping and even Sydney almost tripped over a couple of times!

Thinking they were doing OK, Preston, turned around to check on Nigel, who was now just a few feet behind him, sounding rather wheezy. Preston realised, of course, he was probably terrified of getting caught by the occupants of the mansion and that the wheezing was caused by fear.

Feeling the need to give his petrified brother moral support, Preston was about to take hold of his hand when suddenly, as he turned to do that, he tripped over a lawn sprinkler, right in front of his brother. Being unable to stop in time, Nigel then tripped over Preston's legs, screamed and went flying down a small slope into the darkness! Preston got up very quickly and desperately tried to locate him, but he seemed to have completely vanished as all he could see in the moonlight was Sydney motioning to him to hurry up.

Suddenly, with no warning at all, they found themselves surrounded by several guards; two of whom had guns and were threatening to kill them! Taking their opponents by surprise, Sydney kicked the gun from the hands of one and twisted the arm of another; causing him to drop his weapon and scream out in pain. Spinning around quickly she elbowed another brute and then turned her attention to the others whom she punched and kicked, knocking one unconscious and injuring the rest.

Preston too did surprisingly well, as even though he was not used to fighting, once Sydney had winded one of the brutes and the adrenaline kicked in, he managed to take over and punch the guy in the stomach, wrestle him to the ground and punch him in the ribs! The thug reeled over in pain and almost disappeared into the darkness, however, as the moonlight returned his whereabouts were revealed, allowing Preston to reach over and hit him again.

Crawling on the ground, feeling quite exhausted, Preston suddenly felt something hard on the grass which, on closer inspection, much to his surprise, he realised was a gun! Picking it up to try and aim it, the gun suddenly flew up in the air, as another thug kicked his hand and shoved him backwards. Lying on his back, Preston managed to forcefully kick his assailant's abdomen as he came towards him again, causing the thug to fall backwards into a rosebush. Thankfully, after getting caught in the thorns, he went silent and Preston breathed a sigh of relief.

Eventually, having overpowered the initial group of men, there followed a few seconds where both Sydney and Preston realised they would soon be outnumbered, as they could hear several more security men shouting and running towards them. They both looked into the darkness, desperately trying to see where Nigel was, but sadly, they couldn't see him at all. However, about twenty feet away they suddenly heard a scuffle going on and then, to their horror, someone shouted "pick the bastard up, take him inside and make him talk! You two, catch the others….now!"

With great pain in their hearts, believing they must have caught Nigel and were coming after them, they had to make a split second decision, they could either go back and all be captured, or they could try and escape and, hopefully, return with some help later on. Realising there was no choice in the matter, they located the rope they'd used earlier and threw the hook over the top of the wall. Preston, being too heavy for Sydney lift, scaled the wall first, using the rope and then pulled Sydney up with it, in the nick of time.

Giving a very quick look from the top of the wall, the moon shining brighter than before, they saw a large man in the middle of the lawn, walking towards the house, with something dangling over his shoulder. Squinting her eyes, Sydney realised that, sadly, it was Nigel, but what was worse, he wasn't kicking or screaming, which probably meant he was unconscious!

Feeling just dreadful, but realising there was nothing they could do right now, Preston used the rope to partially get down the other side of the wall and then jumped the rest of the way to the ground. Sydney, however, just for speed, jumped the entire height of the wall, leaving the rope just hanging there.

Preston was devastated having to leave Nigel like that and had it not been so dark, Sydney would have noticed the tears running down his face and that he'd cut his hand quite badly.

They raced along the busy street, not knowing how many thugs were chasing them and only stopped once they'd reached the park where the police charity event was taking place.

Feeling breathless, and in need of a rest, they hid behind a large food tent and sat on the ground. Sydney was shocked when checking how Preston was doing as she then saw the cut on his hand, which was dripping with blood! "Hold still a minute, I'll see if I can find some napkins to clean that up" Sydney said, hoping that the cut wasn't too deep and that the trail of blood that Preston must have left, wouldn't lead the thugs right to them!

She looked around the side of the tent and noticed a pile of napkins right by the entrance of the food tent. Cutlery was placed there too, enabling people, who'd purchased food for their picnics, to pick those things up as they left. Trying to look inconspicuous, which was difficult considering how grubby she was, Sydney boldly walked to entrance, took a large pile of napkins and then quickly rushed back to Preston.

"How're you doing?" she asked, looking at Preston's sad face.

"Oh I'll be fine, the cut's not that deep" he replied, looking down at the grass.

Sydney wrapped the wound and gave Preston a sad smile, realising how deeply upset he was about Nigel "we'll get him out of there" she said, trying to reassure him, with little success.

Having been hidden behind the tent for about fifteen minutes, they began thinking about making a dash for their hotel. However, they'd no sooner looked around the side of the tent when, to their annoyance, they saw a couple of angry looking men, dressed in dark suits, who could easily have come from the mansion! Thankfully, however, those men moved away quite soon and by mingling with the crowds they soon found their way back to the hotel, looking rather dirty and feeling very worried.

Having collected their keys and asking, hopefully, if there were any messages, the receptionist on the front desk gave them a rather disapproving look and said there were none. Ignoring the woman, they went to Sydney's room, took out a bottle of wine from the minibar and drank that to calm them down.

Realising he needed to wash his hands and check on his cut, Preston went into the bathroom where he suddenly started to panic "Oh my God Sydney, I've done it again, I left him!" he cried; feeling terribly distressed as reality kicked in.

Handing him a towel, Sydney gave him a confused look "what do you mean, again?" she asked; noticing a look of horror on his face.

"Sydney it was my fault that Nigel was kidnapped before; I was supposed to have been taking care of him!" Preston said, sounding really distraught.

Sydney looked really surprised "so, what happened? How on earth was it your fault?" she asked; noticing Preston looked away from her.

"Podge and I were in the car waiting for mother to come out of the supermarket and he asked me to take him to the loo. I refused; even though he cried" Preston said, his voice breaking up as he recalled that horrible day.

"Preston you're too upset, leave it for now" Sydney said, trying to be understanding but, deep down, wanting to know more.

"No Sydney, I need to tell you ….. I need to" he said, looking at her sincerely "instead of taking him there, I helped our elderly neighbour who was struggling to get her shopping into her car. I was gone less than five minutes, but when I got back, he was gone!"

"Oh Preston, that's awful, but I don't see how it's your fault, you had no idea anything like that would happen; you just did what any well brought up young man would do when you helped your neighbour and I'm sure you intended to take him to the bathroom then" Sydney said, watching Preston get more and more agitated.

"That's just it; if I'd have taken him in the first place, he wouldn't have been alone in the car and been kidnapped!" Preston said, shaking his head as he recalled, with sadness, the details of the incident.

"Preston, I can guarantee that if they'd planned to abduct him, they'd have found a way… no matter where he was! If you'd have been in the car with him they'd have probably taken you too!" Sydney said, genuinely believing that. Preston looked quite shocked; he'd never for one minute considered that! "Look Preston, you need to put that all to the back of your mind right now and focus on getting him back, OK?..… Nigel really needs you now."

"Yes, yes you're right, we have to get him back quickly; let's call the police….we shouldn't have waited this long really!" Preston said, trying to be positive.

"Look Preston, I'm pretty much convinced the police are taking bribes from those crooks! You know when I was looking at those papers on the table….well I didn't just see kidnap plans, I saw a cheque book and there was one cheque, for the equivalent of about $100,000 that was made out to Colonel Carlos Rodriguez, he's the guy whose name was on the notice outside the park, remember? I kind of stole the stub" Sydney said very seriously, taking it out of her bra, along with the photos and counterfeit money.

"Oh…um goodness…yes I um do…. but Sydney…. that could have been a donation" Preston said, looking hopeful, as he really wanted to speak to the police.

"Not when the cheque was made out to him personally, instead of the police charity! I saw another couple of big cheques too, one I particularly remember; it was made out to Captain Alfred something or other…. look I have photos" Sydney said, turning on her camera and showing Preston the pictures she'd taken in the secret room. "Yes see….Captain Alfredo Hernandez…what do you want to bet he's a policeman!"

"Alright, alright but how are we going to help Podge now; he'll be terrified! Sydney my heart will break if anything happens to him….. we have to go back; we have to!" Preston squealed, just like Nigel did when he got over excited or scared.

"Preston, try to keep calm, I'm going to call Cate Hemphill from Interpol, she'll be able to help, this is too big for the local police anyway, no matter whose side they're on!" Sydney said, trying to make Preston realise the importance of handing this correctly.

"Cate who, from where!?" Preston asked; looking very surprised at what he thought Sydney said.

"Cate Hemphill, she works for Interpol, she's a…well a friend of mine and she dated Nigel a few times too. Look I'm sure she still cares about him and when she learns of his past, and what's happened, she'll want to kick those thugs' butts personally!" Sydney said, picking up her cell phone.

Preston just stared at her and wondered why his brother hadn't mentioned someone like Cate, as he'd told him about a few other girls he'd dated when they talked on Christmas day. Of course, he then realised there were probably lots of things Nigel hadn't told him yet about the four years he'd worked for Sydney. His thoughts about Nigel were then suddenly jolted back to the present as he listened to Sydney speak to the agent.

"Hi Cate… it's Sydney…. look I'm in Rio…Brazil…we need your help urgently; Nigel's in terrible trouble!" she said, explaining the details of her plan and what happened at the mansion.

"Oh my God; poor Nigel!" Cate yelled, remembering how weak she believed her ex-boyfriend was. "Sydney; this is definitely something that Interpol should be involved in, although I'm not sure how many agents we've got down there right now. Look… I'm sure once I explain to my boss what you've said it'll be no problem for me to fly down there; I can be there in about ten hours, maybe a bit less. The thing is; you mustn't do anything to tip off the gang that you, or more importantly, Interpol, are aware of their activities. Once they get wind of that, they'll disappear from Rio and we'll never find them, or Nigel, again!" Cate said, feeling a little shocked about Nigel's horrific past.

"OK, so what do you suggest Preston and I do until you get here?" Sydney asked, hoping Cate would have a plan based on her past experiences.

"Well right now you need to do something to help Nigel, without revealing what you know. I think the first thing to do though is lock away all of the evidence in your hotel safe, particularly the SD card from your camera, and then go to the police." Cate said, finding herself interrupted by Sydney.

"I told you Cate, that's crazy….I'm certain they're in on it!" she said, raising her voice in frustration.

"Sydney, just listen! As long as you don't mention that secret room or the evidence you have against them, it'll be fine; whether the police are in on it or not! You have go and tell them that 'Ian' is being detained at the house, but that it's all a big mistake…just remember to call him Ian though…I'm sure Nigel will remember to use that name! That way, when the police speak to the gang they'll either think you don't want any trouble or, hopefully, that you know nothing about what's going on in that house….well as long as Nigel doesn't say anything…. which I'm sure he won't…well unless he's forced to! Of course, with any luck, the leader of the gang will just call the police himself and have Nigel arrested as a thief….just like you planned….that's what any normal person would do if they found an intruder in their house" Cate said, hoping Nigel would be alright, because she knew he had a tendency to panic "Once he's safe you can get the hell out of Rio and Interpol can take over."

"I doubt they'll just let him go, or have him arrested Cate; they had guns and Preston and I beat the hell out of some of them! They're just monsters and from what I read in Nigel's file they, obviously, like hurting kids just for the sake of it! Anyway, they're bound to suspect we went into that secret room!" Sydney said, feeling very downhearted and wishing she'd never thought of that plan.

"Didn't you say you tidied up and nobody saw you leave!?" Cate asked, starting to feel a bit edgy.

"Well yes… we tried, but the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced they'll know. I've no idea how those boxes were actually stacked and Nigel might have moved other things. We left in such a hurry; if they're suspicious enough they might even check the table and notice a cheque stub's missing…. I…well…I took some photos out of a box too."

"Sydney, you're beginning to sound like Nigel!" Cate cut in, realising this was a very difficult situation for her as she always took responsibility for Nigel's safety.

"Cate I'm worried about him; he was in such a state when he saw his file!... But about that room…. it's not just the way we left it that might tip them off to our visit….there was a woman who saw us running from the living room where the bookcase is….she's the one who sounded the alarm. I know she didn't actually see us leave the secret room, but I think just seeing us in the general area would be enough to make the brutes check it out!" Sydney said, hoping she was wrong about all this "

"Damn! OK, OK let me think…..right…if they do believe you've seen it then…well… they'll probably threaten to kill Nigel if you tell anyone; in fact, I'm surprised they haven't already called your hotel room! Of course, he's probably still unconscious, so he won't have been able to tell them where you are yet. You know what though; because Nigel's bound to tell them you're thieves, they'll probably think, because of that, you're not interested in their criminal activities! Of course, being criminals yourselves would also mean that you wouldn't go telling the police what you do for a living, so don't worry about that!" Cate said, wishing so much she could be there.

"OK….that seems reasonable Cate" Sydney said, wondering if this would work.

"It's difficult to know exactly what crooks like that will do Sydney, but I have an idea... initially tell the police that you crept past the guard so that you could look at the gardens and architecture, then add that you strayed inside the house; something like that. Then why not drop into the conversation that Preston's a millionaire and that you'll pay for any damage caused to the property! You could add that he's 'Ian's' very worried step brother and that he'll do anything to get him back! The thing is, as long as you don't appear to be a threat to them, hopefully, they'll either let Nigel go, or use him to get some ransom money from Preston! Either way he should be safe until my Interpol agents get there" Cate said, realising her plan was not exactly fool proof, as thugs like that were completely unpredictable.

"Cate, don't you think it will cause all manner of problems if Nigel tells the gang one story and we tell the police something else?" Sydney asked, with great concern; wishing now she'd never come up with the idea of saying they were thieves.

"No, not really, if he keeps to your plan, I doubt whatever Nigel says will do much harm…. except, of course, if they beat him for trying to steal from them! God I hope they don't! I think though, if the police are in cahoots with those thugs, then all they'll care about is telling them about Preston's money. If they're not, which I think is unlikely, then they'll just do their job" Cate said, hoping that her plan would work and ensure that Nigel would still be alive when she gets to Rio.

Once Sydney finished speaking with Cate she explained to Preston what they'd said as, obviously, he'd only heard one side of the conversation. Being the cautious type, Preston was extremely concerned, as he could think of so many ways things could go wrong! Unfortunately, though, neither he nor Sydney could come up with anything better, although they did consider sneaking back into the house to try and rescue Nigel. Of course, when they considered that in more detail they realised it would be madness to try, as they'd no idea where Nigel was being held in such a huge house. Not only that, because they'd already caused mayhem, the gang would probably have tightened up their security. Feeling they had little choice in the matter, they nervously made their way to the police station to start the ball rolling.

As soon as they arrived Sydney immediately noticed, much to her surprise, that the badge being worn by the officer at the front desk read, Captain Alfredo Hernandez, which was, of course, the name she'd read on the cheque stub she'd photographed earlier!

Sydney cautiously explained to the officer, just like they'd planned; how they stupidly wandered into the house and that 'Ian' had been detained. However, before she'd finished, Hernandez began to look very shifty and suddenly rushed into the office behind the front desk, picked up the phone and dialled out.

As luck would have it, the Captain accidentally left the door open, just a fraction, which enabled Sydney, who could speak a little Portuguese, to listen in on what he was saying "Carlos, you'd better get back here quickly; there's trouble at the Ferreiras'! There's an American woman and some English guy here complaining that their friend's being held by him!"

"I guess the Ferreiras' are the thugs who live in that house" Sydney whispered in Preston's ear.

"Yes, I suppose so" Preston whispered back, just as the Captain returned.

They both tried to look innocent as the policeman, who was looking quite agitated, told them to wait in the hall where someone would be coming to take a full statement.

About fifteen minutes later a huge man came storming in and introduced himself, rather abruptly, as Colonel Rodriguez. He was smoking huge cigar and wearing civilian clothing having, obviously, come straight from his home to the station.

Sydney and Preston's meeting with him was an utter nightmare, as having reiterated what they'd told Hernandez and going on to explain how sorry they were for being so nosey, all Rodriguez seemed interested in was that they'd trespassed onto the grounds of the mansion! He showed no concern whatsoever for 'Ian's welfare, although he did take down a few notes.

As they were talking Sydney took the opportunity to examine the man in more detail and noticed he was wearing a solid gold medallion, a huge gold ring with a ruby in the centre and his clothes were all designer, right down to his Italian shoes! That totally confirmed to her that Carlos Rodriguez and, obviously, Alfredo Hernandez, were being paid to look the other way and that everything she'd suspected about the police was true.

Having scribbled on a note pad for a couple of minutes, Rodriguez threw the pen down on the table and viciously advised them that the Ferreiras' were one of the most respected families in Rio and that they most certainly wouldn't hold anyone against their will!

Sydney kept calm, as all she wanted was for Rodriguez to contact the gang and tell them that she and Preston had reported 'Ian' missing. Of course, the most important thing she wanted him to get across was that they'd not mentioned anything about the room or their criminal activities. Hoping he would do that quite soon, she suddenly remembered the other thing that Cate thought they should say. Therefore, pretending she believed that 'Ian' must simply be a guest at the mansion, she weaved into the conversation that Preston was wealthy and would happily pay for any damages.

At the mere mention of wealth, Rodriguez's eyes lit up and he confirmed, quite politely, that he'd telephone Mr Ferreira first thing in the morning to explain the situation. However, much to Sydney's annoyance, he then added that they shouldn't leave town, as Niklas Ferreira may still wish to press charges against them for trespass!

Sydney was furious, as was Preston, but they did their best to hide it, realising there was no point in antagonising the officer. Therefore, biting their tongues and smiling, Sydney thanked him for his assistance and promised not to leave, especially without 'Ian'!

As they returned to the hotel feeling angry and frustrated, Sydney couldn't help but hope that Nigel had been released or, by some miracle, had escaped, while they'd been at the station. However, having checked with reception if they'd seen him, or if he, or anyone else, had left any messages, they received a negative response and returned to their rooms with heavy hearts.

Sleep was extremely difficult for both of them as they realised that if Ferreira was going to make any ransom demands, it wouldn't be at least until tomorrow and that every moment Nigel had to spend with those monsters would be sheer hell for him!

**PLEASE ****REVIEW or click in one of the boxes.**

**In the next chapter read what happens to Nigel in the mansion.**


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